Shadows of the L'cie
by XxcloudxX012
Summary: Two families suffer a traumatic loss and join together to grow bonds as strong as steel. But with rivals, love, highschool, and becoming L'cie; Will one family surpass the limits life has set? Or will the shadows of the past control this L'cie? Discontinued. Sorry everyone.
1. Introductions

Well kids it's that time of year again! time for me to dump all of my energy into a fanfic. The summary is a little lame but i think it'll get the job done. This story will cover high school through the events of XIII. It's also my first story focusing on an OC. Please tell me if it sucks, i just want it to get better.

Thanks for taking the time to read it.

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"LIFT KEEP!" Coach shrieked in my ears. I grunted and lifted the 175 pound bench press up again. "COME ON YOUR SISTER CAN LIFT MORE THAN YOU!" He had to bring up her again. I grimaced and gave everything left in my body and did three more reps.

Coach finally allowed me to rack it and he congratulated me on my lifting. "Nice work today Keep, you're making real progress." I used my hand towel to wipe the sweat from my face and I nodded at him, still trying to catch my breath.

I wiped the matted black hair from my face and headed to the locker room. See my name is Lucas Keep. My parents died a few years ago when I was 10.

After that it was just me and my little sister Christina. With her being three years younger than me, I found myself suddenly thrown into more than just the big brother role. I had to be the man of our two person family.

Things were really rough until we finally asked some family friends for help. We showed up at the house of the Farron's and before my young mind could fully process what my sister and I had been through, we were living with them and their two daughters.

I was the same age as their youngest daughter Serah. Her older sister Claire was always really protective of her and it took a long time until she trusted my sister and I.

She's two years older than Serah and I. The four of us had grown very close over the years since mine sister's and I's arrival. Sighing, I went into the locker room shower and thought about the tragedy that hit the Farron's about a year after we moved in.

Their parents had died in a car accident. Their car stalled out on some train tracks and they weren't able to get out. After that Claire took the name Lightning. Since then, her and I have been working nonstop to support the four of us.

Through all of our tough experiences the four of us had bonded extremely well. Despite the fact that I'm always stuck in a house filled with nothing but estrogen, I make due with my family.

For the record the sister my coach was referencing was Lightning not Christina. Christina is a girl who is a bit small for her age and she's very quiet around everyone but Claire, Serah, and I.

Ah yes, Serah.

I started the water and reflected on my feelings for her. Sure we had bonded as brother and sister, but from the minute I met her I knew she had to be mine. When I finally had the courage to ask her out, she said that she couldn't right now. She promised me that it would happen eventually. A week later she was dating Snow.

Snow is a house of dude. Over six foot tall and having a massive frame, he was everything I wanted myself to be. He was strong, assertive, and passionate. He also had the one thing I couldn't see myself living without. Serah's affection.

Despite what she had done to me I still remained close with her. We laughed and smiled and attempted to move on. Deep down those feeling still existed though. Every time I saw Snow, I was reminded of it all.

Unfortunately for me, I was going to be seeing him a lot for the next two years until he graduated. We were both on the Bodhum High School basketball team.

That's why I was working with my coach, I was getting in off season workouts in before school started up and I became a freshman.

My teammate the past 3 years, Maqui, and I both made the team as freshman. We led the local middle school to a 40-5 record over the three years we played. But I digress.

Regardless of why I was going to be seeing Snow all the time, it sucked. Majorly. Such is the life of a slightly melodramatic teenaged boy. I exited the shower and threw on a clean set of clothing.

My trademark look of black jeans with an ungodly amount of zippers for pockets I never seem to use, bright red flannel with a black undershirt, and a black beanie that has a red skull plastered on the side of it.

Feeling refreshed I stepped outside of the gym and into the balmy Bodhum summer. I grabbed my skateboard from the locks and proceeded to skate towards my house.

After expertly dodging potholes, cars, and gravel, I managed to get home. Throwing my skateboard inside the garage, I went in the front door only to see Claire standing at the door staring at me.

"Hey Claire I'm back from lifting." I said as I entered the door. "Why didn't you bother telling anyone you would be home late? Christina has been worried sick!"

I grimaced as her cold remarks gashed into me. I ignored her and walked directly to Christina's room. Knowing I had majorly pissed off Claire I ducked into Christina's room as fast as I could.

"Hey there munchkin." I said as I casually plopped myself on the edge of her bed. She threw the covers off of her at the sound of my voice and pulled me into a death grip of a hug. "Hey, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine, I promise."

I hugged her back and wiped some of her black hair from her face. When she spoke her normally gentle voice was shaky. "I'm sorry Lucas, you didn't come home when you normally do and I got really worried. It made me think of mom and dad."

Sighing I pulled her into another hug. "I know, I know. You know your older brother is too stubborn to die on you." I smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"He is right you know." Both of us turned to see Claire standing in her doorway. "Lightning." Christina couldn't finish her sentence looking at her so she just buried herself into me.

"I'm sorry for causing this. You think I would have learned." I said as I tilted my head towards the ceiling and closed my eyes. Sometimes I can be so stupid. I made both of them worry. If Serah hadn't been off with Snow all day I would've worried her too.

Claire came and patted my shoulder. "Well there's dinner whenever you two are ready to eat." She said as she walked down the stairs. I nodded and stood up. "Lucas?"

I looked down at my little sister to see her looking at me. I nodded for her to ask whatever she had on her mind. "Why do you still call Lightning Claire?" I paused looking for the words to express how I felt about it.

"I just don't like it. It feels like she's choosing to erase a part of her past instead of using her past to become stronger. Its like she's running away from herself." I said as I looked down to see how she would interpret what I had said.

"Does that mean I can call her Claire too?" I shook my head no and ruffled her hair. "She hates that I call her that. I don't think she would like having another person call her Claire." she just nodded and ran down the stairs.

I followed her out of her room and slid down the banister to find an irritated Claire. "Lucas." she paused and slapped me on the back of the head. "I've told you at least four hundred times to not slide down that thing."

I stuck my tongue out at her and walked by her into the kitchen. "Tacos! Hell yes!" I hastily made myself a plate and sat down at the table. Claire smirked at my antics while Christina giggled. "Lucas is in trouble, Lucas is in trouble." I frowned when I heard my little sister chanting like a kindergartner. "Oh yes he is."

I groaned when I heard Claire make her comment. "Would you two stop picking on him for once? Cut the kid some slack." I swore in my head. Serah had come home and she brought Snow with her. Now the gorilla was trying to defend me.

_Why done you just leave?_ I thought to myself as he sat down next to me.

"After all, Bodhum High needs it's starting shooting guard ready for the season. He can't be ready for the season if he's in the doghouse now can he?" His tone was full of cockiness and he had a dumb grin on his face.

I grabbed the dew rag off of his head and threw it onto the couch. "No hats at the table Snow." He frowned and then nodded. "Right well I'll let you eat." After that crippling exchange he left the table and sat on the couch with Serah.

Christina had finished eating and went up to her room. That left just Claire and I in the kitchen. "I hate him so much." I said as I let my head fall onto the table. "So do I."

I looked up to see her glaring at the gorilla sitting in our living room. I finished my tacos and put my plate in the dishwasher. "Its been a long day. I think I'm gonna turn in early." I was about to go upstairs when I felt Claire wrap around me.

We sat there for a minute before one of us broke the silence.

"I know I act mad, but I really like that you still call me Claire." I tensed up. Before I could say anything back to her, she continued to speak. "No one else can though. Just my little brother like figure."

I smiled and turned around to face her. "Hey what's with this brother like figure shit? You know I'm basically your brother." I smiled and I felt proud of myself that I got her to smile too. I mumbled my thanks to her and bolted up the stairs into my room.

Bland gray walls covered with cheesy posters were the backdrop to a tidy room. My bass was sitting in the corner of my room next to my amp, and there was a stack of papers covering my desk. Other than that and my bed, my room was empty.

I opened my closet and found some clothes to change into. School would be starting here in a couple of days. I needed to start sleeping right, and make sure Christina is as well.

Sighing I threw on some mesh shorts and a white t-shirt. I flopped onto my bed back first so I could stare at my ceiling. I stifled a yawn and rubbed a hand through my hair.

"Man where did the summer go?" I asked to no one as I closed my eyes and tried to drift myself into a relaxing sleep.

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Well how was that for an opening chapter? Things really pick up after this. Please share with me your thoughts and i'll do what i can to get back to you. Huge props goes to acidic wrath for betaing this for me and giving me the awesome title.  
As always, Peace out Y'all


	2. First day

"Wakey wakey Lucas." I heard Serah trying to get me up. "please Serah, I'm too tired for this." I mumbled out, but I'm sure what she heard was something like what you hear when you turn on the garbage disposal.

"Lucas, you need to get up or I'm getting Lightning." Serah's threat worked and I was instantly awake and I shot out of my bed and towards the bathroom. After a delightfully refreshing shower I got dressed in some casual clothes.

Just some jeans and a black t-shirt with red designs on it. When I slid down the stairs I found Lightning and Christina waiting for Serah and I to come down.

"How much longer before Serah is ready?" Lightning asked me. Her voice seemed very stressed. She probably didn't get much sleep the night before. That and because this is the first day of school, things were a little hectic.

I shrugged just in time to have Serah run past me and into the car. "Well Claire, I think I found her." I said sarcastically as I followed her out of the door. Making sure to grab Christina's hand as I passed her. I didn't turn around to see Claire's reaction or wait for her to respond.

I didn't want to take my chances with that. I grabbed shotgun and slid inside the vehicle. Claire was the only on of us who was old enough to drive so we waited for her to enter the vehicle and soon enough we were speeding off towards Christina's middle school.

Since Serah, Claire, and I went to the same school now Christina had to be dropped off first. I walked her to the office at my old middle school. Slightly rushed, I took her to the office so she could get her schedule and everything. After a quick goodbye I hurried back out to the car.

Hopping duke's of hazard style, Lightning sped off towards Bodhum High School. The sign out front said "Welcome to Bodhum High, Home of the Pirates." I closed my eyes and pictured myself in the blue and white basketball jersey.

Lightning quickly removed me from my daydream by shutting off the engine. Sighing, I grabbed my backpack and walked with Serah towards the main office. We had to sit through freshman orientation which was just an assistant principle reading things out of the student handbook that we would never use.

As everyone exited the auditorium we were handed our schedules and shown to a student guide. Ours just so happened to be Lightning. We were shown around the school.

There were three buildings that were separated by parking lots. The main building contained the 100, 200, and 300 halls. A building to the back side of the school property had the 400 and 500 halls. And the third building, which was connected to the gym and auditorium, contained the 600 halls. The 600 halls contained classes like Band and Chorus. The music hall I suppose you could say.

Due to the orientation and tours we had a short day so we only had like 35 minutes in each class. Looking down to my schedule I saw that I had Biology with a Mrs. Horn in room 403. The 400 hall was all the way across the school. Sighing, I headed over there saying goodbye to Serah who had a different class for first period.

I walked in with about forty or so seconds to spare before the tardy bell went off. There was only one lab table open so I headed towards the back of the room and sat next to a kid with long blonde hair and a cocky grin.

I sat down next to him and put my backpack on the ground. "Names Zane, I just moved here from Eden." I turned to look at the kid more clearly. He had light brown eyes and his somewhat pale skin showed that he was new to the constant sun of Bodhum.

"Hey Zane, my name's Lucas and I've lived here since I was four." He nodded in my direction and grabbed two handouts from Mrs. Horn. "Class syllabus" was all he said before handing me one of the sheets.

It was my turn to nod at him and I grabbed the bright green sheet out of his hand. Once Mrs. Horn was out of earshot I turned back towards Zane. "So you moved all the way from Eden?" I asked somewhat casually.

He nodded and shook his blonde hair from out of his face. "Yeah my mom got a better job here, so now here I am." I know I shouldn't have been, but I was jealous Zane had a mom still. "So how do you like it here?" He turned and flashed a cocky grin.

"It's awesome man. The surfing is great." I chuckled a bit and smiled. "So you surf?" I asked trying to keep this conversation afloat. He nodded and pulled out his wallet. He flashed me a picture of him and his board on a beach that was fairly close to my house. I could tell by the pier in the background.

"I live like a five minute walk from that pier" I said while looking back up at Zane. He made a "hmm" sound and answered by saying, "I live just down the road from there myself. In that apartment complex by the basketball courts." I smiled, I knew exactly where he was talking about.

"I play on those courts every now and then." I said while smiling, thinking about one of the games I played with some people just hanging around the courts. He raised an eyebrow at me before asking, "So you play? What's your position?" I was assuming he played to by his response.

"I'm a combo guard, but I've played shooting guard the past few years." He nodded his head and got silent once Mrs. Horn walked by us again. "I'm a small forward myself." He said once Mrs. Horn walked out of hearing range.

"So will I see you fourth period then?" I asked because fourth hour was when the basketball team met. It counted as a gym credit and it gave us time to get friendly with the other people on the team. Zane nodded and pulled out his schedule.

He handed it to me and I compared it with my own. I had four classes with the kid. Biology, Pulsian History, Basketball, and English. "Four classes" I muttered to myself. Zane just smiled and put his hand around my shoulder. "It'll give us plenty of time to hang out then." I laughed and rubbed a hand through my black hair.

The bell rang and all but Zane and I had already poured out of the classroom by the time I even grabbed my backpack. "I'll see you later Zane. My next class is all the way across the school!" I called as I took off toward the 600 hall.

I made it to class with plenty of time, and I met the band director Mr. Adams. I walked over towards Serah because we played the same instrument. We sat down next to each other and chatted while we waited for Mr. Adams to talk to us for a bit.

Nothing interesting at all happened in band. We didn't play because it was the first day of the school, but I did have time to tell Serah about the casual friend and new teammate I had met in biology.

After a class of small talk we were dismissed by the bell and sent towards our next class. I shared this class with Serah as we went to room 309 in the main building to Pulsian history. I remembered I had this class with Zane.

We walked in to find our teacher Miss Brady chatting with Zane about something. After he was done talking I called him over and introduced him to Serah. I let them talk for a bit before Miss Brady settled down the class for roll call. She stopped after she read my name which led me to give an exasperated sigh.

"Lucas Keep? Are you related to Keep line of ninjas?" I smiled meekly and nodded in response to her question. "Yes mam, but my father passed away before he could teach me any of the family secrets." She frowned when I gave my answer and she offered me her condolences.

My family came from a branch of some prestigious ninja clan that had existed for as long as recorded history. Some women from that clan married some man from my family and her family taught him some super awesome ninja stuff that was passed down through generations.

However, I was too young to learn while my father was still around. So the line ended with him. Even though the family name will live on, the ninja aspect of my family will have died.

Forcing myself to forget about my dead family, I turned my attention to Miss Brady who was letting the class talk amongst ourselves. I turned to Serah who sat beside me and asked,

"SO what do you think of Zane Damon" she sat up in her desk a little but and looked over at me. "He's pretty cute and he seems like a cool guy." I rolled my eyes at the cute comment. "Did he tell you he's on the basketball team?" I asked casually trying to kill the time before my next class.

She shook her head no and was about to respond when the blonde haired teen walked over to us. "Hey Lucas, Serah." he said nodding at each of us as he said our names. "So you're from a line of ninja?" He asked turning toward me. I nodded and gave a small smile.

"Yeah, but I was never taught any of the cool shit ninjas can do." I shrugged after I said this and tried to make clear that I didn't want to talk about it. After another few minutes of idle chat, the bell rang and Zane and I headed toward the gym.

I walked in to find the returning members of the basketball team playing a game of HORSE. Snow, Gadot, and Yuj looked over at the two of us and waved casually. I turned around and saw my partner in crime from middle school, Maqui run over toward us.

His blonde spikes were bouncing around on his head. Maqui was very short and honestly pretty young. He's a real gear head who had somehow managed to skip a few grades. The kid was only 12. making him two years younger than us.

We all introduced each other and grabbed a few basketballs to shoot around for a bit while we waited on our coach. Jordan Michael is a retired professional player who couldn't stay away form the game for very long. He turned up around four years ago and he's been coaching the team ever since.

He came in and started talking to us about our goals for the season and practices schedules. Practice every Monday and Wednesday. Nothing less than a championship or else the season would be a waste. This school always had high expectations.

I looked around the rafters and saw countless division titles and Cocoon championships. Last year the team had been upset in the first round of the playoffs, despite going through the regular season undefeated. That didn't sit well the the returning players and they really pressured us three freshman to play beyond our years.

The class was nothing more than introductions and a shoot around, meaning we shoot basketballs for half an hour. The bell rang soon enough and I headed to my next class.

I had geometry in the 200 hall. Seeing as how it wasn't a terribly far distance from the gym, I took my time and started to reflect on the day. All I had really done was talk to Serah and Zane.

Lightning was off in her high level classes and Snow was fortunately only in one of mine so far. Mentally pushing those thoughts away, I opened the door to my next class and saw Serah and Yuj in this class.

I figured I would see Yuj a little too much over the course of the season, so I took a seat close to Serah. We didn't have time to talk as our teacher, Mrs. Court keep up busy all class with issuing text books, and going over the class syllabus.

The first day of school always had a simple routine. Go to your classes, meet your teachers, and chat with friends you haven't seen in a while. The bell rang for one of the last times of the day as I headed to Spanish class.

I mentally groaned when I saw the gorilla sitting in a desk near the back of the room. Making it a point to sit far away form him I took a seat fairly close to the front of the room.

I was surprised when I saw Lightning stroll into the class. I waved at her and motioned for her to sit next to me. She told me she was taking the class because most career fields she was interested in either required or recommended a foreign language.

We sat in front and talked about our first days somewhat casually. I found out Lightning had the unfortunate experience of sharing five classes with the gorilla. Suddenly my two classes with him didn't seem so bad.

"Hola clase, me llamo Senora Adams." The whole class turned around to see our teacher walking to her desk somewhat slowly. She didn't say another word in Spanish all class but she did have a very thick accent.

I had a bit of trouble understand some of the things she said. I had turned around and Snow was looking at her cluelessly. I laughed to myself, finding satisfaction in that Snow would be struggling in this class.

I found myself thinking about Zane for most of class. I wondered what exactly brought him and his mom here all the way from Eden. It was somewhat expensive to live here by the beach.

Surely they could have lived more comfortably back in Eden. Pushing the thought out of my mind, I grabbed my backpack and waited for the bell. Once it sounded, I headed to my last class of the day.

Luckily enough it was next door. I strolled in to find myself the first person in the class. I nodded politely at my teacher and sat down in the corner desk of the room. I leaned back and watched the classroom fill in slowly.

The only familiar face I saw was Zane. He had arrived to late and he sat all the way across the room. English class was going to be very laid back. Our teacher Mrs. Wood let the class do pretty much whatever. She said we would have a pretty good time as long as we all did our homework.

Finally the final bell rang and I grabbed my backpack and followed Zane to the gym for practice. The first practice of the year was always very light to get us ready to go for the rest of the year.

Coach handed us blue mesh practice jerseys. I felt somewhat proud when I pulled the number 11 jersey over my head. We went three on three to work on team work. Zane Gadot and I were put on the same team.

Seeing as how I was the only one who was a guard I ran the point and let Gadot and Zane do the scoring. I did have a nice contested three point shot though.

The highlight of practice came when I threw a shot up and missed badly. Zane came flying up and slammed the ball back through the hoop. Coach let out a clap and a nod in approval.

The rest of practice was spent on fundamentals like rebounding and lay ups. Nothing too exciting really. Coach let us go from practice so I headed to the locker room to take a quick shower. I was the only one to take advantage of the schools shower.

Afterwords I called Lightning to ask for a ride home. She agreed and she was outside in a matter of minutes. When we arrived home I volunteered to make dinner and headed into the kitchen to get things started.

The first day of school called for a celebratory meal. So I made some bacon cheeseburgers for everyone. We all sat at the table and talked about our days. Christina was very excited and she mentioned some boy she thought was cute.

I made it a point to remember his name and give him a talking to if things between them ever went anywhere. Dinner went by very quickly, so we all sat down in front of the TV and watched the Chocobo race.

No one said much but Christina had snuggled to me and had fallen asleep. I carried her up to her room and tucker her into her bed. I smiled and ruffled her hair and headed into my own room to play my bass for a bit.

I sat down on my bed and closed my eyes while quietly playing a bassline I had wrote for Serah. I wrote her a love song to serenade her with, but it didn't have the effect I wish it would have.

I sighed for the last time of the day and laid down in bed and slept the night away.


	3. Fights and Shots

I'm somewhat saddened by no reviews. even if you just want to say my story sucks i want to hear it lol. without further hesitation, the third chapter of my fan fiction.

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Its amazing how quickly we as humans form a routine. Just under a month and my days were quickly thrown into a habitual rut. Wake up, eat, drop Christina off, school, practice, shower, dinner, sleep.

My grades have been fairly decent, keeping them high enough to keep me eligible for basketball and to keep my collegiate options open when the time comes.

It was September 1st and the weather was already resembling that of fall. The leaves were turning colours and that always meant that basketball season was just a few days away. The season opener was in seven days to be exact. We were to play the Nautilus Dreamers in the first game here in Bodhum. James Brawn was their so called star player. The kid was a natural scorer. He could easily go for 30 points or more in any game he played. I felt bad Yuj, he had to guard him for most of the game. Zane would have to pitch in as well when Yuj needed a breath or got into foul trouble.

Enough of the game for now, that could wait. Today was the first of the month. That meant that it was Sanctum military day. On the first of every month Recruiters would come to schools all around cocoon and talk about PSICOM and the Guardian Corps. This year it was different, we were allowed to spar with wooden weapons during our physical education class.

So that meant today instead of basketball I would be practicing with something resembling a real weapon. I'm pretty sure they let us spar to see who would be a natural fit in the military and to get a head start on the recruitment process. Serah didn't even have to wake me up today. I was bouncing around with excitement. By the time she would've been in my room, I was already downstairs sipping on coffee and making some eggs for breakfast. Serah came down the stairs and made her gross protein shake and smiled at me.

I crossed my eyes and stuck my tongue out at her. My antics made her giggle and walk over to see what I was making. "Hey Serah, when Claire comes down I'm going to say a really bad punchline. You need to laugh like a maniac. It'll be fun to throw her off." She nodded at me with a raised eyebrow and a look of intrigue. Soon enough I heard the creaks of the stairs and saw Claire coming down very slowly.

As soon as she got in earshot I said "And that's when I said 'no way man that's NOT a duck'" Serah cracked up right on cue and we turned to see a very confused Lightning, still in her PJ's mind you. "Oh hey Claire, nice horse pajamas." I said very casually not bothering to take another glance at her. She was wearing pajama shorts that were a light blue and covered with white horses.

I chose that moment to take a glance and saw her blush. "Is that a blush I see on the face of our fearless leader?" I joked even more, carefully pushing my limits. Her face got even redder before all the colour drained out of it. I raised an eyebrow in confusion and watched with growing interest as she slowly walked up behind me. I could feel the heat of her skin and all of it was making me very nervous.

"They were a gift from your little sister." she said in a whisper as she winked at me and walked to the table somewhat seductively. "Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" Serah said at my expense and high fived Lightning. She sat down and looked at me "What are you looking at Lucas?" she asked before making herself some coffee.

"By the way your eggs are burning." she said before taking a sip of her coffee. I played that situation off as best as I could and turned the heat off and made myself a plate of burnt, scrambled eggs.

The rest of the morning went by without incident, and soon enough I found myself in biology with Zane. He seemed pretty on nervous which really surprised me. He was always the easy going guy so I figured the Sanctum visit was eating at him.

"So what are your plans after high school Zane?" I asked while filling out a worksheet on cellular respiration. I looked up and saw him light up somewhat. "I want to join PSICOM." he said with a bit of pride in his voice. I nodded in appreciation and finished up the last question on the worksheet.

"So I'm guessing the reason you're on edge is because of the visit today." I stated, it was obvious so I kept the question out of my tone. Zane just nodded and ran his fingers through his blonde hair. "For sure dude." He got quiet and remained as such until our basketball class.

I walked in to the gym to see a Sanctum employee in uniform talking with our head coach. Slowly the 12 person team all huddled together. I took the time to look around at the faces that would most likely not get a chance to play until next year. Part of me felt bad for them and part of me didn't care. If they played this year they would cut into my playing time and if I was going to go to college I needed all the exposure I could get, starting this year.

Like almost every talk the Sanctum official's had with students every year on the first of every month, it always came back to serving Eden and Primarch Dysley. I personally didn't care for cocoon's government. My family had tried to overthrow them at one point in our history. Soon enough the official was done droning and said "Now time for the part you've been waiting for, please select a weapon and l will observe while your coach gives directions."

We quickly dispersed and looked through the weapon racks. Wooden swords, spears and bows were the primary weapons on display. Zane elected to go with a two handed sword. Snow and Gadot chose hand to hand combat. Yuj grabbed a bow and started playing with the string. Myself, I browsed through another rack and found what I was looking for. A wooden katana. Feeling the wooden handle in my hand, I felt some kind of connection with my ancestry. Maybe it was just me wishing, but I felt through that wooden katana, my parents.

I was quickly broken from my thoughts when coach paired the members of the team up. Lucky me was paired up with Zane. He gave a curt nod before charging me, slashing his sword downward towards my shoulder.

I sidestepped his slash and jumped backwards to regain my footing. I didn't have long to plan my own offensive as Zane charged again. This time attacking me with a horizontal cut aiming for my ribcage. I pointed my katana towards the ground and held it vertically in an attempt to block his attack. His sheer strength was too much for me to fully block, however I was able to deflect his strike.

Instead of jumping back I turned on the attack and swung the katana diagonally from his left shoulder to his right leg. Zane was able to jump back in time and only got nicked on his leg. I quickly spun into my next strike to gain momentum. I launched my own horizontal slash only to have it blocked and knock me off balance. Zane's sword coming down on my head was a nice incentive to drop to the ground and roll out of the way.

However, I wasn't able to get up quick enough and obtained a swift kick to the side of my body. I got back to my feet before he could land another strike, and we were back where we started. Staring at each other with little damage done to either of us. The only difference was that we were both out of breath. By this time all of the other sparring had stopped and everyone was watching the two of us.

Zane rushed again and I brought my katana up in an upward strike as our blades met with a loud smacking sound as both of our wooden swords cracked.

Mine was the first to break due to its thinness compared to Zane's log of a sword. Zane could have struck me at any time, but he didn't. He dropped his sword and gave me a nod of approval. We never broke eye contact and the only sound was our heavy breathing.

A loud, slow clap came from the small crowd we had attracted. We both looked over to see the Sanctum official clapping and stopping to write on his clipboard. He muttered a few words to our coach and left. I collapsed and let out an exhausted groan. "Dude you kicked too hard." I said as I rubbed my side. Zane chuckled and helped me back up to my feet.

We laughed and picked up the pieces of the shattered katana and I took a look at the crack in Zane's log. There was a crack about a quarter inch thick that ran straight down the middle of it. "Dude your log has a huge crack in it." He came over and took a look at it. "Yeah there is, but why is it a log?" He asked as I laughed. "Cause its a huge slab of wood, therefore a log."

I said while giving a goofy grin. Zane shook his head and handed the log to coach. The school was buzzing about our fight. Some bench player took a video and uploaded it to the internet and now everyone in the school had seen Zane and I going at it.

Lightning approached me during our lunch period and pulled me aside. "Lucas, you fought really well. I've never seen you fight before, I didn't know you were so skilled for your age." She said as she almost complimented me. I frowned in confusion, I had never fought before.

"I've never fought. I just picked up the katana and it almost became a part of me." She nodded in understanding. Like every first of the month every year of high school, Lightning had wiped the floor with whoever she fought.

The Sanctum recruiters were very pleased with her fighting ability and both PSICOM and the Guardian Corps were trying to get her to join. "I felt that the first time I picked up a wooden sword, it felt right. It felt like I had found something I could do to make sure the three of you lived comfortably." I nodded as she confessed her reason for wanting to join the military.

"I know Claire, but you're acting too motherly." I said with a wink and pulled her in for a hug. "Also why don't you wear the pajamas I got you for your birthday?" I asked playfully as I walked away leaving a bright red Claire behind me.

I joined Zane and Serah at our table before Claire could hunt me down and kick my ass. Still smiling from my great comment to get back at Lightning for this morning, I thought about the pajamas I had gotten her. It was last minute and I was broke.

So I ran to the closest department store to find her something. The first thing that caught my eye was a pink pajama set covered in lightning bolts. I grabbed them off of the rack without realizing how somewhat revealing the clothes were.

Short shorts and a tank top that would show off her stomach. When I gave it to her she gave me a death glare and didn't even take it out of the bag. I knew she didn't throw it away though, I found the bag sitting in the trash and the pajamas weren't inside of it.

The rest of school went by very quickly with no excitement, just like that entire week. Until Friday that is.

The town was buzzing, I wore my white and blue jersey to school along with everyone else on the team. There was a pep rally where Snow and Gadot got the entire crowd into tonight's game.

I looked down and stared at the jersey I was wearing. It was white with blue lettering that spelled out Bodhum and the number 11 was boldly placed in the middle of the jersey. All my teachers let me get away with small stuff today and even gave almost no homework.

Soon enough it was time for the shoot around before the game. I practiced my lay ups and my three point shot, hitting sixteen threes in a row before coach gathered all of us. "Okay guys I know you're all excited for the opener, but remember Brawn is a great scorer, don't lose focus tonight." With that, we headed to the bench to wait for the announcement of the starting line ups.

Gadot, Yuj, and Maqui were all called up before Snow and I. He slapped his arm on my back and tried to give me some words of encouragement. "Game one of your high school career. You excited?" he asked rhetorically.

I simply nodded and ran out to the court when the announcer said "And starting at shooting guard, number 11, LUCAS KEEP!" I heard a few screams but most of the reaction was clapping. I looked in the crowd and saw Serah and Christina sitting in the bleachers cheering for me. I nodded and gave a fist pump to get the crowd going.

The announcer did his last introduction for the night and the place went crazy. "And starting at center, number 42, SNOW VILLIERS!" The place exploded. The season started as Snow met the Nautilus center at half court for the jump ball. Snow won the tip and the ball bounced towards Maqui.

The offense got into a flow and after running a screen, I got open for a three point shot. Maqui bounce passed it to me and I launched a three and knew it was going in. The net made a swish sound as the crowd erupted. I showed no emotion, only gave a fist pump and ran back to play defense.

Nautilus's first possession was only five seconds long. Their point guard passed to Brawn and he ran by Yuj and dunked the ball, quieting the crowd. We countered on offense by running the same play as before, I got open and knocked down another big thee point shot. The crowd cheered and I swore I heard Christina shout "THAT'S MY BROTHER!"

I ran back on defense to see Brawn spin away form Yuj and hit a shot off of the backboard while falling to the ground. The shot went in and coach subbed Yuj out for Zane. I watched the number 15 jersey slowly jog out to take Yuj's spot on the court.

We ran the same play for the third time in a row only for the shot to not be open like before. I faked a shot and got the defender to jump. I took my chance and ran for the basket, throwing up a floating shot at the last second. The ball went in and we were up 8-4 after only a few minutes.

Zane couldn't get back on defense fast enough and Brawn had an easy dunk to cut our lead to 2 points. We ran the same play and I got another shot fake and went towards the hoop again, I threw the shot up only to have it fly into the stands with a block by Brawn. We were able to keep possession and I answered the block with a pass to Zane who passed to Snow who threw down a two handed dunk over his defender.

We were up 10-6 and there was only two minutes left in the quarter. On the Dreamer's next possession, Brawn stayed out by the three point line and drained a three with Zane right in his face. No matter what we did, Brawn was destroying our defense.

I got the ball from the throw in and ran up the court as fast as I could and caught Brawn in a two on one situation, I kicked out to Maqui who shot and drained a two point jump shot. Up 12-9, Brawn passed to an outside shooter who hit another three to tie the game at 12 after the first quarter.

We knew we were in for a tough game. The second quarter was a nightmare, I was tired and Brawn blew by Zane and I several times for easy shots. Soon enough we were down 36-22 at halftime.

Brawn already had 21 points and neither Zane nor Yuj could guard him. I walked to the locker room and slammed my fist on a locker in frustration, we needed to be able to beat the elite teams when it came time for the playoffs. Coach gave us a speech about regaining our focus and pushing the tempo to get easy shots. I was on a mission for the third quarter, embarrass Brawn.

The third started with a lay up by Brawn to widen the gap to 16 points. I got the ball right away and threw an alley-oop to Zane who got the crowd back into the game. Brawn got the ball again and went for a shot with Zane all over him. The ball got over Zane's arms but I flew in and slammed the ball into the third row, repaying what Brawn had done to my shot in the first.

We spent the third quarter chipping away at the lead with easy two point shots and double teaming Brawn every time he touched the ball. By the time the last quarter rolled around, the game was tied at 50. The deadlock remained until the final seconds where Brawn threw up a shot and gave the Dreamers a two point lead with five seconds left.

Gadot quickly in bounded the ball to Maqui who flew down the court. I got in place behind the three point line and called for the ball, there was no one in front of me and I had a wide open shot with three seconds left.

I shot the ball and heard the buzzer go off. If the shot went in we won, if it didn't we lost. It was as simple as that. To my dismay the ball hit the front of the rim and bounced upwards. I grew still as the ball came down, hoping it would fall in.

It did.

The crowd stormed the court and surrounded me and all I did was hold up my arms in victory. Brawn walked off of the court quickly and followed his team to the visiting locker room. I stayed on the court for a long time with the student body chanting my last name.

Eventually, I made my way through the crowd to find my family and my teammates. Much to my distaste, Serah was all over Snow in the bleachers. Christina ran up to me and jumped on me. "You were soooo cool Lucas! You won the game and everything!" She was practically screaming in my ear.

I smiled and ruffled her hair. I was about to say something when I heard Snow talking to me. "Are you coming to the after party Lucas?" I nodded and him and told Christina to go home with Serah and that I'd see her in the morning. I kissed my little sister and hugged Serah as I watched them leave the gym.

"Fuck dude we did it." I said dumbly as I stared at the scoreboard. "No you did it. You won the game with that shot." There was a mix of pride and jealousy in his voice. I nodded slowly before answering. "Don't worry Snow, you're the hero. You'll dominate next game. East Eden has a weak center." Playing my cards right, I cheered up Snow and we headed off to the party.

I was forced to ride bitch on his motorcycle because it was the only way to get there. I awkwardly held onto the gorilla and soon enough we were at the party. It was what you would expect a high school party to be like. Loud music, slutty girls, and cheap beer.

I came in and everyone cheered at my arrival. It was good feeling like the king, even if it was only until the next game. I spent the party mostly chilling with Zane and I only had one beer. I didn't want to waste the good hospitality. Even if drinking wasn't my thing, I still had a beer to show I was down to party.

In one week my popularity soared. Between the buzzer beating shot and my fight with Zane that was all over the internet, I was on top of the school. The rest of the party was spent between me trying to hook up with some random girl and me chatting with Zane about the season opener. It was nearly three in the morning when the party finally shut down.

Zane and I braved the streets of Bodhum and walked towards the pier by our houses. "Man tonight was crazy." I said, staring out at the ocean. I looked over and saw Zane nodding. We sat there for a good five minutes just looking at the waters.

Soon enough we split ways and headed to our own houses. When I stumbled in Lightning was still up. "Lucas, I know you were partying." That was all she said as I closed the front door. I nodded and sat down next to her on our red couch. "Yeah, I only had one drink though. Just to not seem rude." I said as I stretched and yawned.

Lightning slapped the back of my head and got up. "That's for drinking, and I'm sorry I couldn't make your game tonight-" I cut her off before she could finish "I know you were busy with work." I said trying to hide the disappointment in my voice. I got up and went to my room leaving a somewhat sad Claire behind me.

I didn't even bother changing as I fell down on my bed and passed out.

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You know i should really work on new endings. All three chapters have ended with Lucas going to bed. I'll have to work that that.

Also sorry for the delay on this chapter, i didnt really feel motivation to write the past week and a half ish. but alas the chapter is now done.

id really appreciate a few reviews this time around.


	4. Madness

Howdy Fellows. Is this chapter a bit late? I'm not quiet sure if i made my 12 day schedule or not. Also i failed to mention this last time around, but if you review i will message you in response in an attempt to connect with my audience. And if you leave an unsigned one, i will address it in the section before the next chapter.

Without further waiting, Here is chapter four of Shadow's of the L'cie

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"You're weak Lucas."

The man shrouded by darkness said as he approached me, ready to kill. My katana laid far out of reach, my energy was gone.

The large sword of my enemy swung down on me.

I woke up. It was a horrible nightmare I've been having for the past two weeks.

Ever since we beat Nautilus, I've been having this strange dream. The fight itself varies from dream to dream, but it always ends with my weapon gone and his sword coming down on me. The man who attacks me remains a mystery, but he feels familiar.

I could be grasping at straws, but I think its a premonition. A vision of the future if you will. It feels too real to be my subconscious messing with me.

Things since the game have been going well, other than the dream of course. We had played four other games and won them all handily, despite me not being able to hit the broad side of a behemoth with the basketball. I was in a shooting slump, but it didn't matter. We were still winning.

Zane and I decided to start sparring every now and then for fun. To blow off some steam when we need to. We haven't fought since that day when the Sanctum recruiter was at the school.

Today was Saturday, I was still exhausted from the game last night and the after party. I groaned and got out of my bed, it was always better to be up before Serah came by to do it. Looking over to my nightstand, I saw the small digital clock that read 11:27.

"Damn, I slept in late." I said to myself as I walked out into the hallway. The house was eerily quiet.

"Serah is probably off with Snow, Claire is at work. Wheres my sister?" I asked myself as I crept over to her room. When I got to her door I saw a note that read "Out with my friend, be back soon!" I nodded and headed down the stairs.

Home alone and I had nothing to do. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed the number of a certain blonde haired friend.

"WHO IS CALLING THIS DAMN EARLY!" I pulled the phone back from my ear in pain and surprise.

"Dude, its almost noon." I said, my ears still ringing.

"Yeah, too damn early. So what's up Lucas?" Zane asked. I bit my bottom lip. Why was I calling?

"Do you want to hang out today? I'm just sitting at home alone." I heard his shout at his mom to ask if he could.

"Yeah sounds good man. Meet me at the courts?" He asked while still talking to his mom.

"Sounds good, I'll grab my board and head on over." I hung up before he could respond again and headed back upstairs to the bathroom. I took a speed shower and put on some jeans and a plain red t-shirt.

I grabbed my worn skateboard and headed towards the basketball courts. I saw Zane in black trip pants and a black t-shirt.

"So whats the plan Lucas?" He called out as I skated towards him. I stopped the board and got off once I reached him.

"Wanna hit downtown?" I asked as I noticed his own skateboard. Zane nodded and hopped on his.

"How do you skate in trips dude?" I asked as we started off toward downtown Bodhum.

"Practice." One word was all he needed to say I guess. I decided to stop asking questions for now. We skated and the scenery changed from the palm trees and laid back beach front to a scene of shopping centers and cars driving down the main road.

I turned toward the mall and the two of us skated inside and right past the rent-a-cops. The perks of being a high school athlete? Getting off without punishment for minor things. As long as we were winning that is.

The security guard didn't give a second look and just let us go. I hopped off of my board and waited for Zane to do the same. The showoff did a kickflip before getting off himself.

"So, now where to?" He asked as some little kid ran over to us.

"You guys are on the basketball team!" I nodded and crouched down to be at his eye level.

"You guys are awesome!" The kid was enthusiastic. He sprinted off towards his parents and Zane turned and started walking.

"Wait up bro." I jogged a few steps and jumped on top of his back.

"Get off of me bro-mo." He said, drawing out the 'mo' part. Hopping down, I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Sure thing, bromo-chacho." I said while heading towards the video game store.

"Dude! Last Legacy 13 was announced!" I turned back to Zane, an excited look on my face.

"You like Last Legacy too bromochacho-mingo?" He asked as he looked at the display poster.

"Your sisters pull off pink hair better than her." Zane said to me as he walked by to another part of the mall. I looked back at the poster and saw a girl with pink hair. She looked somewhat similar to Claire but not quite the same.

Shrugging it off, I ran after Zane.

"Dude, what are we doing here?" I called out to him. He shrugged and we decided to skate back to the basketball courts.

We played a quick game of HORSE till the sun started to set. Suddenly, I dropped the basketball and got on my skateboard. I headed off towards the beach. Looking back, Zane was hot on my tail. Ditching my board before I hit the sand, I ran towards the pier.

My stomach dropped at the sight in front of me. Snow holding Serah in his chest on the edge of the pier. I heard Zane's footsteps approach me, and I wished I hadn't come to the beach.

"You have feelings for her don't you?" He asked as he walked up next to me. I bit my bottom lip in response.

"She's like your sister dude." I clenched my fist at his words. Zane didn't know how deep his words were cutting me.

"Sometimes you should let go. She looks happy, you should be too." I lost myself and slugged Zane on the side of his face.

"SHUT UP! YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING!" Zane shot up off of the sand and swung at my head. His fist connected and sent me sprawling on the ground.

"Chill the fuck out." He wiped his cheek to check for blood. Before he could do anything, I got back up and kneed him in the gut. He staggered backwards and started coughing.

"Dammit Lucas." He ran towards me and spun into a kick aimed for my midsection. His foot hitting me felt like getting hit by a cement truck. People were starting to notice us fighting. They were headed this way.

Snow and Serah remained oblivious to the two of us. Seeing them so happy on the pier fueled my anger.

"GO TO HELL ZANE!" I screamed as I tackled Zane onto the sand.

"LUCAS TIMOTHY KEEP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I turned my head and saw Serah freaking out near the two us. It looked like she was holding back tears.

"YOU'RE JUST AS BAD AS HIM!" I ran. I ran home. I ran home and locked myself in my room.

I didn't answer the door for anyone. All three girls tried and I ignored all of them. Snow and Zane tried, their voices fell on deaf ears. I spent the weekend in my room, only coming out when no one was around or when everyone was asleep.

Late Sunday night I snuck out to get a bite to eat. I was downstairs going through the fridge, when I heard a throat being cleared. I turned around and saw Claire.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" I didn't say anything and just kept looking for something to eat.

"Its Snow isn't it?" I refused to answer. Not even caring anymore, I grabbed a random container of leftovers and walked over to the microwave.

"You're shutting me out Lucas." I turned to face her and locked eyes with her.

"Its no different than what you do to us. So I don't see how you have room to talk." I saw the hurt look that appeared on her face for just a second. My attention returned to my food as I put it in the microwave.

"You and I are not going to school tomorrow. We are going to sit here until you tell me whats wrong." The microwaved beeped and I took my food out.

"Then we're going to be here a while." She sat down at the table across from me and watched me eat.

"You eventually told me what happened between you and Serah, you'll talk." I ignored her comment and started eating. We sat in silence until I finished my food. She remained seating as I put my plate in the dishwasher and she didn't stop me from going upstairs.

I couldn't sleep, I spent all night staring at me ceiling.

So many thoughts were going through my head, they all revolved around Serah.

"This would be so much easier if I didn't feel the way I did." I said it aloud. There was no one to hear it, but the words had to be vocalized.

Sleep did not come to me that night.

Claire was true to her words. She took Serah and Christina to school and came back home to attempt to get me to talk to her. I continued with the silent act, hoping she would just give up. She didn't. Claire was a persistent character.

I hadn't bothered changing out of my clothes from the night before, leaving Claire somewhat overdressed for our occasion. If she cared, she didn't let on. I couldn't take the tension downstairs anymore, so I went back to my room and sat down on my bed, wishing I could sleep.

A few minutes later, she knocked on my door. Against my better judgment, I opened it to face her. I stared at her for a few moments before realizing what she was wearing.

"Nice pajamas Claire." I smirked as I took in the sight of her in those pink pajamas covered in lightning bolts. If that bothered her, I didn't have time to find out as she threw me on my bed.

"You want to tell me why you and Zane were fighting?" I didn't want to tell her, mostly because I didn't know why I did it.

"I lost myself to my anger." It was a bad answer but I didn't want to think about it too much. Claire pinched the bridge of her nose and sat down next to me.

"Lucas, I know how you feel. She means everything to you, and it kills you that she doesn't feel the same. That gorilla doesn't exactly help either." She was rambling.

"We should get out of town this weekend." I interrupted her, and I didn't let her answer right away. I knew she would say something about her having to work.

"Take time off of work, I have a bit of money saved up. We can go to Palumpolum." I had some gil saved up from my old job. I never had a job during basketball season, it would interfere with practicing and games. If it did that, I would lose on a possible scholarship opportunity. I needed to save my gil for Christina.

I gave Claire a bit of a puppy dog luck and she caved.

"Fine, the four of us will go this weekend. I'll take Friday night off too. So I can see you play." She hugged me and I didn't hug her back. I couldn't move my arms. Part of it was excitement, another was of sadness.

I didn't know if I'd be able to play Friday. I didn't know how I would hold up mentally. Besides my own issues, we were playing East Eden High School this week, which means I would be guarding the number one player on cocoon.

Benjamin Anderson. He was always in the paper for his ridiculous stats. Scoring an average of 55 points a game, he put James Brawn to shame.

I pulled Claire down onto the bed and the two of us laid there. I'm not sure who fell asleep first, but we were awakened by a giggling Christina.

"You two look cute like that." I was groggy as all hell, so I wasn't sure what she meant by that. I rolled over and saw Claire's face covered by a deep red blush. Not caring at this particular point in time, I closed my eyes and tried to back to sleep.

"Lucas, your hand is grabbing my butt." I jumped out of my bed and landed ass first on the floor. Heat rose to my cheeks and Claire's face looked much like my own at the time. Christina laughed and was going through her phone.

"Lucas! She got pictures!" I jumped up and chased my sister through the house until I bumped into Snow.

"Move." I elbowed him as I passed and he grabbed my shoulder.

"Chill out dude. I need to ask you a question." I shoved him off me and got in his face.

"Fuck off." We glared at each other waiting for one of us to make a move.

"Cut it out Lucas!" I looked up and saw Claire staring at me from the top of the stairs.

"Whatever." I pushed Snow out of the way and walked outside. My thoughts clouded my head, I was on autopilot. Before I knew what I was doing I was at the basketball courts. The only sound was that of my footsteps as I jogged over towards an unused basketball.

I started shooting, the sight of the ball draining the net calmed me down. I don't know how long I was alone, but it felt like a lifetime.

"Lucas." I turned and saw Zane standing awkwardly.

"Zane." I passed him the ball and he ran over and dunked it.

"Sorry about Saturday." He didn't answer me. He just passed the ball and I ran towards the hoop. I launched myself in the air as high as I could in an attempt to dunk it. The ball collided with the rim and I was sent falling down to the blacktop. I saw a hand reach for me.

I grabbed it and let Zane help me up. We may not be on the best terms after that fight but Zane was willing to give me another chance. The rest of the night was spent with Zane and I shooting around. It was nothing but killing time.

"I need to get back home, Lightning and everyone are probably freaking out right now." Zane nodded at me and I took the short walk to my home. Christina was asleep when I got back. Serah was in the shower, and Claire was sitting on the couch running her fingers through her hair muttering to herself.

"I wish Lucas would open up to someone." Her words were quiet but I heard them. I walked right by her and up into my room, pretending I hadn't heard what she said.

"Goodnight Claire." I'm sure she said goodnight, but I didn't stick around to hear it. I needed sleep, it was going to be a rough week. The game with Eden was the only thing left to tackle before spending time with my family. Right now, for reasons unknown, the task seemed more daunting than it should have.

"Lucas can I talk to you?" I was just about to go to bed, when Serah got my attention.

"If its about the fight, then no." She looked down and turned around, not wanting to face me.

"Goodnight Serah." That came out with more venom than I would have wanted, but at the moment I didn't care. My feelings for Serah can basically be described as a love-hate relationship.

"I wish I could say that I didn't care." I said as I let myself fall into a dreamless sleep.

The first sleep without that horrid nightmare in nearly two and half weeks.

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So how was it? I'm really setting things up for a long chapter next time around. With the rest of the week, the game, and the trip.

Like always i'll ask for reviews and say Peace out y'all

thanks go out to Rakivia for reviewing.


	5. Losing and Failing

Late chapter is late. This was a tough one to finally finish. Im glad its out here now though. I wont keep you from reading any longer though (heh heh you see what i did there with the keep)

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Friday, the day of the week we all look forward to. I had managed to persuade coach to let Lightning, Serah, and Christina travel with the team to Eden. Zane looked pretty beside himself on the trip there. He had mentioned he went to West Eden High School.

"Lucas, I want you to drop 50 on Anderson." I turned around to see Zane with a serious look on his face. I was confused, the game plan was to go down low and let Snow and Gadot take advantage of their height.

"Anderson can't defend, take him to the hoop and make him foul." Zane's plan was going against what the coach wanted. I don't know what made me agree, maybe taking Snow out of the game. I just nodded at Zane and though it over as the train neared Eden.

The hustle and bustle of the big city was a sight to behold. Towering buildings and busy streets were quiet the change from our seaside town.

We didn't have time to fully take things in as Coach shuffled us into the visiting locker room. The girls had left to get seats, leaving the team in a silent locker room. I got up and started walking toward the exit onto the court. "Show time ladies." I called over my shoulder to the team.

The crowd was getting louder with every step I took towards the court. Exhaling, I ran out onto the court to a chorus of jeers. I ignored them and headed to our bench. Warm ups seemed to drag on, the crowd making us tense.

I must have missed at least twenty shots because of the crowd. Before I knew what was happening, it was time for tip off and the ball was headed right towards me. I controlled the ball and passed to Maqui while I started sizing up Anderson.

Maqui got the ball to Snow who cashed in an easy post shot to put us up 2-0. Anderson took the ball up court. I can't believe this is the guy who scores big every game, hes a pasty white with short black hair and glasses that make his eyes bug out. He looked scrawny and out of shape. Until he blew right by me and dunked over Yuj.

The game was tied at 2 after Anderson held the ball for ten seconds! On the next possession, I called for the ball and attacked the rim. Anderson let me blow by him and I had an easy lay up. I nodded towards Zane over at the bench.

He looked like he was ready to get into the game. Anderson beat all other nine players on the court back and layed in a shot to tie the game again. The kid was quick as fuck.

I handled the ball on the next possession and took advantage of Snow's height by throwing up an alley-oop to him. So much for homecoming. The crowd was starting to realize we could go blow to blow with East Eden.

Maqui was all alone on defense and Anderson took advantage. Anderson plowed Maqui over and dunked it. He got the basket and they called the foul, but none of that mattered at that moment. Maqui was on the ground clenching his ankle yelling in agony.

The trainers rushed out to the court and every starter on our team knew he was probably done for the season. "Coach! Put Zane in." I called over and he nodded and pulled the blonde haired teen aside.

I was now running the point and Zane was taking over my old spot. I shut my eyes and tried to calm myself down. It didn't work, without Maqui running the point we were hopeless.

Anderson had his way with our defense and ended up scoring 47 on us. It was our first loss of the season and things couldn't get worse than a 87-69 loss. The ride back was silent save for the girls trying to cheer us up.

Zane was raging inside. He was giving off an aura that scared me. I pulled out my phone and decided to text him as to keep the conversation private. The message read_ 'you look pissed, wanna blow off some steam tomorrow?'_

He nodded at me but didn't respond to the message. I didn't eat dinner that night, I couldn't stomach it. That dream haunted me yet again.

However, the man who I was fighting had more definition to him. He seemed so familiar to me, and yet I couldn't place it. His sword came down and I deflected it with my katana. I was lasting longer than normal, but it ended like it always does. He disarms me and I'm left helpless to his blade.

The difference this time was this haunting black armor the man was wearing. The misery it contained was causing my own morale to drop. The man hesitated before ending the dream, something else that was new.

I woke up hungry and drenched in a nervous sweat. I didn't bother thinking about it, it was probably nothing anyway. Where would I get a katana? Especially a blade of that quality. The handle was grooved and it fit in my hand perfectly.

The blade was perfectly balanced and my strikes were always fluid. The blade itself had a red tint to it, however, I didn't know if it was designed that way or if it was blood. It reminded me of a sword from legend. The masamune.

The sword was said to have been the blade that slayed a god. I don't believe the legend, but it was a nice story.

I remembered the promise I made to Zane and forced myself out of bed. The girls were packing, something I had done last night when I couldn't sleep. I told them I had to see Zane and when I got back we would leave for Palumpolum.

Zane was waiting where he always was, the basketball court. He had two wooden weapons. They were based off of the ones we used when the Sanctum visited but obviously these were much cruder.

He wordlessly tossed me the crude wooden katana and I tested it out. It was decently balanced but it paled in comparison to the one from my dream. "Lets go." Was all he said before he leaped at me and swung his sword down.

I deflected it and pushed him back with my arm. Jumping back, I was able to sort out the difference between Zane and I's fighting styles. He was brute strength, a force to be reckoned with. I preferred using my speed to get in multiple hits to wear an enemy down.

I launched myself at him and tried to chain together three consecutive attacks. They all hit, but the damage was minimal. Zane spun his body to give his strike extra momentum and his blade connected with my ribcage, sending me to the hot asphalt.

I got up noticing the pain from my ribs immediately. I groaned and broke out into a mad dash at Zane. He was caught off guard and I chained together seven slashes before he could get his guard up. All seven connected with his upper body, he grunted and launched into an attack of his own.

I dropped to the ground to avoid another shot to the ribs and my back flared up in pain from hitting the asphalt. I winced and got up as fast as I could, only to receive a punch to face. My jaw was on fire and Zane's sword was coming down on me.

I had lost the grip on the katana and I had no way to defend myself. Zane stopped the sword at last second and helped me up. I felt absolutely miserable, my whole body ached and I would probably have bruises for a while. "Sorry man, I was just pissed from last night."

I nodded and decided not to push the issue, if he wanted to talk about what was wrong he would talk. I don't need to be pressuring him. Zane said I could take the katana, and I did so. When I got home the girls were ready to go.

They were sitting in the living room drinking tea and talking about something. It sounded like Halloween plans, but I didn't bother them. I merely went upstairs, got my bags, and came back downstairs.

The four of us loaded up the car and set off towards Palumpolum. Lightning was the only licensed driver, therefore she had to drive the entire trip herself. I did not envy her at all. I spent time in the back seat helping Christina with her homework or listening to music.

We arrived on time and checked into the inn. I was exhausted from the fight earlier and let myself fall asleep early. I woke up and looked over our rooms. We had gotten a suite. So it was basically two rooms separated by a bathroom.

Claire and I shared a room apparently, as she was in the other bed in the room. She was still asleep, her pink hair cascading down her shoulder messily. I snuck over to her and proceeded to tickle her in the one spot where she was ticklish.

The plan backfired and Claire threw me off of her and jumped down on top of me. "Lucas Timothy Keep!" She used my full name, she meant business. I started stammering about how sorry I was and that it was just a joke. She eventually let me go.

"So Lucas, now that we're here what exactly are we going to do?" I bit my bottom lip. I hadn't thought this far ahead. I was too busy focusing on that stupid game in Eden. "We should hit the city. Spend some time as a family." She helped me off of the ground and left the room to get changed.

I took advantage of the unused shower and let the hot water run down my body. The shower would've been long but I remembered I live with three girls. So I got out and went back to my room wearing nothing but a towel around my waist. I walked in on Serah changing. "Holy!" I turned my head and tried to conceal myself. Serah was doing much the same.

"Sorry!" we said at the same time. She ran out into the bathroom and I locked the door. I hastily got changed into some cargo shorts and a blue t-shirt. I sat around on the bed until Claire came in the room wearing just a bathrobe.

"Lucas close your eyes, I need to change." I threw myself down on the bed and covered my head with a pillow. The seconds Claire was undressing left like a lifetime. "Hey can I look yet?" I heard her footsteps approach me. "Well you could look, but I'd hit you."

I groaned and mumbled that she should hurry up. "Okay Lucas, you can look." I threw the pillow off of the bed and took a dramatic inhale. "Oh stop it drama queen, you're fine." I stuck my tongue out at her and got off of the bed.

I grabbed her by the wrist and dragged us into the other room. Christina and Serah were both ready to go. "Well kids, time to check out Palumpolum!" I was bright and cheerful, despite my still aching body. It was remarkable how there were zero bruises from that fight.

The four of us looked out of place in the city. We all had decently tanned skin, coming from the seaside. Everyone in the shopping mecca that is Palumpolum was almost pasty. Christina's shopping bags were piling higher and higher. She led us into a store that sold underground, grungy clothing.

There was some kid with odd silver hair wandering around the store. Lightning and Serah had taken to one side of the store, which left me to watch Christina. She had taken an interest in the boy. He looked to be about her age. I kept my distance, but made sure that I could hear them. "Hi what's your name?"

The kid glanced up at her and kind of brushed her off. This kid was off to a great start in my book. "Mine's Christina." He looked up and stared at her for a minute, almost analyzing her. "Hope. Hope Estheim." It took a lot for me to hold in my laughter.

Not only was he named after an emotion, his name was typically a girl's name. I almost felt bad for the kid, he probably got picked on a lot. They spent a few more minutes flirting, before Hope asked her to hang out sometime.

That was when it was time for me to make my big brother move. Looking as menacing as possible, I walked up and eyed the kid. "Is this guy bothering you?" I knew he wasn't but the look on Hope's face was priceless. "No-no sir. I was just talking-" I cut the terrified kid off. "You were flirting with my little sister weren't you?" His face went bright red and Christina hit me on the arm. "Lucas, stop it! You're scaring him."

I shrugged and walked away, before I was too far to be heard I called out "Better not see you again Estheim." I turned back and the kid's face got even paler. He had just realized that I had been listening to their entire conversation. I could tell that Christina was going to apologize and then scold me later, but controlling her relationships with boys was just too much fun.

I know that makes me a bad guy or something like that, but she'd thank me one day. "Girls we're leaving!" I called out as I walked out of the store. Lightning looked very happy to be out of the trendy store.

Claire was not one for high fashion, and there was something about that part of her that I really liked. She had gotten dressed up for a couple of occasions but it was usually just something comfortable and simple.

Unlike Serah, she was about as close to a girly girl as our makeshift family had. Her and Christina were the two that were always wearing the skirts and doing fancy things with their hair. The more I thought about it, the more I didn't like it. It seemed to artificial to me.

The day went by too fast and before we knew it, we were all back in the hotel just sitting back watching TV together. I was getting really tired and I let myself sprawl out on the couch ignoring Claire. "Lucas, your head is on my legs." Her words seemed miles away as I drifted into sleep. I woke up and Claire had passed out on the couch with me.

We were in a very awkward cuddling position. Serah had just come out of her room and she was staring at us. I could see the jealousy pouring from her body. Even though she was the one who broke my heart.

She could be so hypocritical sometimes. Unfortunately for me this was a bad time for her to be like that. "A little help here Serah?" She gave a very audible huff and helped Claire off of me. The two of us went into the kitchen and she stood there while I made coffee.

"So are you going to tell me why you hate me." I stopped making the coffee and turned to face her. "What makes you think I hate you?" I didn't want to get into an argument today. This was our last day in Palumpolum, I wanted to make it count.

"Why wouldn't you hate me, all you do is whine about what I did." It took a lot for me not to yell at her then. "Well maybe when you care about someone as much as I care for you, you'll understand why what you did hurt me as bad as it did."

She was getting pissed, because none of this could possibly be her fault. Sure I wasn't helping things, but I had no obligations to do so. "If you care about me so much then you would just want me to be happy." She was trying to put this all back on me.

"There's a difference between wanting you to be happy and letting you walk all over me." She slapped me across the face and stormed off to her room. In our argument, neither of us had heard Claire get up. "You two need space." She walked into the kitchen and made herself a cup of coffee. I gave a 'hmph' sound and took a sip of my coffee.

"Maybe she should think about someone other than herself for once." I was bitter, and I felt like I had a right to be. "Maybe you should do the same, she doesn't owe you anything. Just like how you don't owe her anything." If I had been in a more rational state of mind, I would've really thought that over.

Seeing as how I was about to explode on Serah, her words didn't mean shit to me. "I gave everything I possibly could to make it work between us and she took advantage of it. Now she's mad because I'm not doing everything I possibly can to make it work." It was a no win situation for me. I wasn't going to let her play me any longer.

"We should just go home today, the longer we stay the worse this is going to get." Claire had made up her mind, and no amount of argument from me was going to change it. So instead of hitting the city for the day, we were back in the car going to Bodhum.

When we got back the sun was still up and Serah was still on my mind. All I wanted was to have a fair chance, something she wasn't willing to give.

Maybe Serah will feel differently when we get older. I knew I was just telling myself that, but I needed it in that moment. I was broken from my thoughts when my cell phone started to ring.

"Lucas, shit's going down between Snow and Zane. You need to get to the beach." Maqui called, told me that, and hung up. I had zero seconds to reply to him. A very important question was burning in my head.

Why would Zane and Snow be fighting?

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Well my first attempt at a legit cliffhanger. I felt like i needed to have a different chapter ending than Lucas going night nite. Well some details about Lucas and Serah's relationship are starting to develop.

As always review and tell me how i did, ill be sure to get back to you.

Thanks go out to Rakivia and Chris-Chris for reviewing


	6. Throwin down

Well gang, its that time of the month again. Time for another chapter of my crappy fanfiction!

I hope this story is entertaining some of you, but without getting any reviews its hard to tell.

Anyways onto the sixth chapter in Shadow's of the L'cie

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"Shit." I cussed under my breath as I ran my hand through my hair. Lightning raised an eyebrow at me but didn't say anything. Walking past her, I exited the house and ran towards the beach.

The sun was only just starting to set and the sky had taken on a red-orange hue. The peaceful colors of the sky were a harsh contradiction to the violence starting at the beach.

I arrived at the beach out of breath from running the whole way nonstop. Zane was in Snow's face and not backing down, despite Snow having nearly half a foot on him.

They were on the end of the beach that was next to the pier, while I was on the opposite end near the parking lot. I saw Maqui watching nearby, he was on crutches after the game last Friday.

Gadot was getting close to Snow, about to gang up on Zane. Zane was strong, but he wouldn't be able to take on both of them. Whatever the cause of the fight was, it could wait. I needed to help Zane. Running over, I joined Zane in the stand off.

Snow hit his fists together and cracked his neck. He was very casual and sure of himself, like always. The four of us circled each other, never breaking the intense stares. The hostile situation was escalating quickly.

"Mind telling me what's going on here?" I asked, finally breaking the silence. Snow and I never broke eye contact. No one answered me. Sighing in frustration I closed my eyes momentarily. "You ready for this Lucas?"

I opened them and saw Zane smiling mischievously. I smirked and cracked my knuckles. "You have no idea Zane." We jumped at the two of them at the same time.

I took Gadot while Zane started fighting Snow. Gadot had a long reach and I had to be careful not to get too close.

I spent most of my time jumping around in the sand, seeing as how the low traction prevented me from using my speed. Gadot got a little too careless and swung too hard. He missed and was knocked off balance.

I swept his legs from under him, and he fell onto the sad with a dull _thud. _Not letting the opportunity go to waste, I jumped on top of him and started punching him in the face. That didn't last long as Snow grabbed my shirt collar and threw me off of him.

Zane took advantage of Snow's distraction and gave Snow a punishing uppercut that connected with his chin. When I had gotten up, Gadot had tackled Zane to the ground. Snow and Gadot were teaming up on him and Zane was getting his face punched in.

Not wanting to see Zane get hurt anymore that he already had been, I kicked Gadot to the sand and punched Snow in the back of the head.

The gorilla grunted and punched me full force in the jaw. I went flying ten or fifteen feet and my head was ringing.

A splitting head ache didn't stop me from getting back up though. Snow's fists did. Four punches to the gut took all the air out of my lungs. I collapsed and Snow turned his attention back towards Zane.

Gadot had taken a beating and was breathing slowly against the pier. He was out of the fight for now. Zane and Snow circled each other, both of them trying to regain their breath.

Zane attacked first by launching himself into the air and tackling Snow's upper body. They rolled around on the ground throwing punches for a few minutes before Snow managed to gain the upper hand.

Snow was using his weight to pin Zane down. They were both breathing heavily and Snow's fist remained cocked, ready to finish the fight.

"SNOW! GET OFF OF HIM!" Everyone on the beach turned their heads to see Lightning storming towards the scene of the brawl. Snow stared at her dumbly.

A _smack _rang through the air as Lightning had slapped Snow with all of her might. "THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU FOUR?" Her rage had silenced all of us. Snow got up to say something to her but another slap sat him back down.

I got up off the sand and walked towards Lightning. Everyone on the beach gave me fearful looks, but I had to get over there and stop this. "Lightning, go home. The fighting is over."

She glared at me and slapped me too. She slapped much harder than Serah. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn't. The sounds of her footsteps on the beach were deafening, but within a couple of minutes she was out of sight.

I pulled Zane up and the two of us hobbled off towards the basketball courts to talk. Snow and Gadot didn't try to stop us.

Even with a basketball in front of us, it didn't leave the ground. Neither of us were in the mood to shoot hoops.

"So do you want to tell me why you and Snow were fighting?" Zane bit his bottom lip and stood up. He leaned against the chain link fence that surrounded the court and looked towards the beach. "It started out as just bickering about the stupid basketball game."

He paused and it looked like he was thinking things over. "Some things were said and one thing lead to another." He was leaving things out. It was obvious that he was. "How did you know we were going to fight?"

His turn to ask questions. "Well I got a call from Maqui saying that I needed to get to the beach." I stood up as well and started pacing up and down the court, but I stayed withing hearing range of Zane. "Why did you decide to fight with me?"

His question caught me off guard. Sure I wanted to help my friend but there was more to it than that. I followed Zane's example and left that part out. "You're my friend, that's what friends do right?" I smiled and slung my arm around Zane's shoulder.

Both of us winced in pain and laughed at our reactions. We said our goodbyes and headed to our respective homes. I walked in the door to two glaring pink haired girls. I blew them off and headed up to the shower.

Washing off the sweat and grime of the fight felt good, and I needed the hot water to help me clear my head. I went to bed with my mind slightly at ease. Until that damn dream happened again.

The clanging of metal was starting to sicken me and the never changing result were something I couldn't stomach. I was disarmed by the man in black armor and he brought his sword down on me and killed me.

Or so I think, I always awoke at that part. This time was no different.

The ride to school the next morning was silent and awkward. Christina was dropped off first like usual and the three of us entered the high school shortly after.

The day was flying by when before I knew it, it was time for basketball. The four of us who fought were called into coach's office. He sat behind his desk, his hands holding his head up. The four of us sat in the uncomfortable chairs without saying a word.

"I don't care why you were fighting." Coach sat up in his chair and stared each one of us down. He went on about how he was disappointed in the four of us. I was starting to tune him out, there was only one thing I needed to hear in this conversation.

"Because of this stupid fight, all four of you are suspended from the team until the end of the regular season. If the team is fortunate to make the playoffs you are free to return." That hit each of us with our own personal wall of bricks.

We didn't bother arguing his decision, we simply got up and left the gym. I found myself sitting in the cafeteria with Zane. "I didn't mean to get you suspended too Lucas." I looked up but didn't say anything.

This could seriously damage my chances at getting into college. I couldn't afford to put both Christina and I through college. The only way we could both go was if I got a scholarship for basketball.

I grew pretty distant from everyone after that day, I never even bothered to find out why they were fighting in the first place. The aftermath of the fight was what really got to me.

Serah and Snow had broken up. She dumped him talking about how much stress he was causing. I didn't feel bad for Snow at all. My chances to be with Serah were suddenly renewed, even if it was a slim chance.

She did everything in her power to crush that dream, she made my life a living hell by treating me like dirt for the rest of the school year. Other than that, the rest of freshman year was spent watching the basketball team lose to every other team on cocoon.

The only bright spot of the year was my birthday, Lightning took me to dinner with Christina. Serah stayed home and did something else. We had a good time, but I was distracted by my feelings for Serah.

I let her affect every part of my life and it was causing me to break down. Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't we try to make it work? I didn't have the answers and she wouldn't try to change things.

So I started putting up walls around myself and alienating myself from everyone. I was pushing them out and it hurt Christina more than anyone else. She would come try to talk to me and I would just shrug and as few words as possible.

I knew it hurt her but I couldn't break myself out of the rut I dug myself in. Quiet frankly, I didn't know if I cared enough to do it.

Summer came and went, all I thought about was getting ready for the upcoming basketball season. Constant lifting and sprinting filled the hot and humid days.

I was in the best shape of my life. My arms had developed a decent amount of muscle and my top speed increased to a near ridiculous amount for someone who wasn't a track athlete. Expectations for the basketball season were high like always, but we were returning all five original starters.

People were getting excited more than I could remember in years past. Sophomore season started with a bang. Anderson was coming to Bodhum for the first game of the season, and I was ready this time. I wouldn't let him have his way with our defense this time around.

I was warming up with the rest of the team, blocking out the sounds of the gym. My shooting was spot on and my focus was absolute. There were zero things that could possibly distract me from the game.

It showed, when the game started I made Anderson's senior season start off sour. First play of the game, I took him to the hoop and posterized him. I leaped as high as I could and dunked on him.

He collapsed and stayed on the gym floor for a long time. The team trainers were out and looking him over. He had broken his wrist and dislocated his shoulder when he fell to the ground. It was safe to say that he wouldn't be coming back to the game.

I didn't let Anderson's injury get in the way of my game plan. I took over the game and made Anderson's back up look like trash all game long. Officially I only scored 62 points, but it felt like I put 100 on them.

I didn't let myself celebrate the win with the team, I went home and slept. There was no point in partying anymore. It wasn't fun to be around people I didn't care about.

Not even my new negative outlook on life changed my sleeping habits. I continued to dream of death, just like how I had for the past year.

I had almost beaten the man clad in haunting black armor. This time the fight was different. I had disarmed him and had my katana at his throat, but I couldn't bring myself to end his life. The man took advantage of that and he knocked the katana out of my hand.

Before I could react, he reclaimed his weapon. Without a means to defend myself, the dream ended the same as it always did, with my supposed death. I woke up with no emotion on my face, the dreams had stopped effecting me long ago.

It was Saturday and I had nothing to do, just like every weekend. I would spend it lifting and running, finding time to shoot hoops somewhere in between.

Claire had other ideas. She had mostly kept to herself when I shut everyone out. She entered my room and confronted me that day. "Lucas, you've changed." Her voice sounded somewhere between sad and angry.

Normally I would've blown her off but the way she was presenting herself made me stay. Normally she would only show emotion to mess with me or when she was angry. However, here she was letting all these pent up emotions show.

Her face didn't have that same determined look that was always there. "Is that a bad thing?" my question made her raise her head to lock eyes with me.

She nodded slowly and turned away from me. "You're always upset and no one knows the reason why. You're barely home. You're shutting m-us out!" Her voice raised with each sentence.

Her hesitation in the last of those sentences made me question her motives in talking to me. Was it really to help the family? Or did she have something else to gain?

_Listen to yourself Lucas. _I was going to say something, when I stopped and thought about things. Did I really just question my sister's motives in wanting to help me? I was becoming paranoid and bitter about every little thing that happened.

"I'm upset because I lose almost everything that's important to me. I know I'm shutting you guys out, but what else was I supposed to do?" My voice didn't get above a whisper, bu she heard every word I said and she showed it by sighing deeply.

"Lucas." She paused and embraced me somewhat awkwardly, seeing as how her arms made it impossible to return the gesture. "You haven't lost everything. Christina and I are always here. Even if you feel like you've lost Serah, you know she'll be there for you."

We finally broke off the hug and I closed my eyes. "Thanks Claire I really needed someone, I'm glad it was you." I turned away and walked out of my room and outside. I had to start patching things up with people, or at least start trying to.

The basketball courts were my destination. A certain long haired blonde kid was there, like always. He had bulked up over the summer as well, his muscles were clearly shown by his white t-shirt. His hair had gotten a bit lighter in colour, I'm guessing from the constant sun in Bodhum.

He had just missed a jump shot when I ran up, grabbed the ball midair, and dunked it. He didn't say anything and just looked at me. I bit my bottom lip nervously and ran my hand through my hair. It was getting pretty shaggy, almost time for a hair cut I'd say.

"I thought you hated me, or something like that." His words snapped me from my thoughts. "Well its something like that." I said as I passed the basketball to him. He took a shot and it sunk through the net.

"So what then, third try's the charm?" His cocky grin made things a bit easier to deal with. I nodded and offered my fist for a fist pound. He stared at it for a second before returning it. "I miss my sparring buddy."

He grabbed that huge ass log he keeps around the courts and started swinging it with one hand. I smiled mischievously and went over to a bush where I kept the wooden katana I used.

The wood was splintered in a lot of places and it looked like garbage, just how how I remembered it. "Should we fight?" Zane nodded and got into a battle pose. I held the katana in my left hand and took a deep breath.

We launched towards each other at the same time and our wooden weapons made a loud _thawk. _We had fought for several minutes until we both layed on the blacktop out of breath. "You've gotten stronger Zane." I managed to say between gasps for air.

He laughed and sat up. "You've somehow managed to get faster, you little fucker." I smiled and sat up with him. We got up a few minutes later and walked towards the beach. There were always parties on the beach on the weekends.

What better way to tear down the walls than to drink some booze and let loose? The sun fell, but that just made the party get more intense. There was loud music, hot girls, and everyone was having a good time.

I was sitting with Zane on the end of the pier with the sounds of the party just behind us. "I'm glad the old Lucas is back." He said as he passed me another beer.

I laughed and smiled. "The sun will be up in a few hours." I said as I stood up and walked back towards the party.

Zane gave me a look and ran after me. "The hell is that supposed to mean?" I laughed at his antics and rejoined that party.

Everything was going smoothly until one very pissed Claire Farron showed up.

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So thoughts? Criticism? Anything? Let me know in a review.

I feel like i'm getting better at this whole cliffhanger thing.

Thanks go out to Chris-Chris for reviewing


	7. confusion, excitement

Finally got around to finishing this chapter. Its a longer one but it was fun to write. How would my readers feel if i kind of skimmed over the last two years of high school? Its becoming really repetitive and its about time to get into the actual story.

Well without further delay, Chapter 7.

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I got up and walked towards the fuming pink haired girl. The wind was starting to pick up and the whole atmosphere was giving me chills. Before I could say anything to her she grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me to the street that went along the beach.

There were no cars out at this ungodly hour, so we were able to stand in the road without cars barreling down on us. "What are you doing Lucas?" Instead of the rage she gave off with her body language, her voice was concerned and somewhat shaky.

I turned around and started pacing. Its a bad habit of mine to pace in uncomfortable situations. "Just hanging out with Zane. Is something wrong?" She looked at me with her expression unchanging.

"Come home in one piece okay?" Her voice had much more composure to it, but the whole situation seemed out of place to me. I slung my arm around her shoulder and looked up at the moon. "Claire, its just a party. I'll be fine."

Claire shrugged my arm off of her and gave me one last look with sadness in her eyes before walking away. "What is going on with that girl?" I muttered beneath my breath and returned to the party.

Zane was back on the pier and the wind was blowing his long blonde hair into his face. "Hey Goldilocks." He didn't respond. We stood there staring out at the water. The moon was giving the water the typical movie look.

Without warning Zane pushed me into the water and jumped in after me. The water felt like ice after being out in the muggy weather all night. I surfaced from under the water and my black hair was clinging to my face.

I started to sink in the water and I started to panic. Somehow I got myself back to the pier and pulled myself out of the water. My breathing had gotten heavy and I was getting confused looks from Zane. "Can't swim." I struggled out into between heaves.

Yes that is correct, I never learned how to swim. I started pacing on the pier and the wetness of my clothes were making me unbearably cold. I wanted to go home. Zane swam back to the pier and climbed out of the water.

Just as he was walking towards me, I felt a towel fall on me. I turned around to see Snow standing there with a stupid grin. "Thanks for the towel." That was all I said to him. I left the blonde haired, dew rag wearing gorilla and walked to the street.

I heard footsteps and I turned to see a soggy Zane running after me. Neither of us said anything, the moment was tense and it didn't have a good reason to be so tense. "Zane, tell me about your family." My words cut the silence and Zane gave an uncomfortable look.

My question was random and has no purpose other than to make things less awkward. "Well I live here with my mom and baby sister. I never knew my dad, my mom doesn't even know if he's alive." He paused and grit his teeth.

"She calls him a hero, but how can he be a hero if he just abandoned his family like that?" His voice cracked and he was somewhere between rage and sadness. Zane put his arm around me and sighed. "What about your family Lucas?"

It was my turn to sigh. I pushed his arm off of me and started pacing.

"My mom died in childbirth when my little sister was born. I wasn't old enough to remember her. My dad disappeared when I was around ten and a month later he was declared dead by investigators. Christina and I moved in with our godparents, the Farron's. Lightning and Serah's parents died a little after Lightning's thirteenth birthday. They got in a car crash and the four of us were declared wards of the state."

I paused to take a breath and make sure Zane was getting everything I was saying. He nodded for me to continue. "We were placed in the care of Lieutenant Amodar of the Bodhum Guardian Corps, but he let us stay in our house and he checked up on us everyday until Lightning got into high school. I don't even remember the last time I saw him."

We were both silent after spilling our family backgrounds. The wind was starting to die down and the party was thinning out. Only a handful of people were still going at it. "I think I'm going to go home Zane. I'll see you at school."

The blonde nodded at me and headed back to the dying party. The house was silent when I got back. Making sure to stay quiet, I snuck upstairs into my room. I ended up sleeping the weekend away like most weekends.

It was October 1st, meaning that Sanctum officials would be at school. The whole school was buzzing about some fight or something. I didn't get a good idea of what was going on until I was at my basketball class, it seemed that everything important at school happened in this class.

The gym still had trash from the Friday night game. Instead of the usual generic employee there was a well recognized official here. "Hello, My name is Cid Raines."

His voice was extremely formal. He had black hair that was cut almost in a bowl fashion. His uniform was white and blue with all kinds of medals on it. It looked really uncomfortable. "Bodhum High has been chosen to participate in this years Cocoon young military fight tournament."

The name was quite the mouthful, but the prospect of fighting in a huge event like this was mind boggling. Raines went on to discuss how four students would be chosen based on evaluations of today's fighting.

I tuned him out and made eye contact with Zane. The same thought was probably going through our heads. We were wondering if we would be picked. There was only one catch, students had to have plans to enter the military after graduation. Zane was set, his dream was to make PSICOM. I had no idea what I wanted to do after school.

This tournament ended up being the deciding factor. I would enlist in the Bodhum Guardian Corps after finishing school. "Let the evaluations begin." Raines' voice was fairly monotone.

Instead of fighting Zane like always, I was assigned to fight Gadot. He focused on hand to hand combat, my wooden katana gave me an advantage in reach. He slicked back his orange hair and charged me.

He swung four times in quick succession. Thinking fast, I slid underneath his advancing figure and rolled back to my feet. My quick moves took him off guard and I took advantage of his surprise to spin into a strike.

My breathing was calm but my hands were shaking with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. The wood connected with his side and Gadot grunted in pain. Not letting up, I swung into a diagonal slash to knock him back.

The hit landed with little power and I had no room to follow up. The reward for my efforts was an uppercut that knocked me off of my feet. I landed on my back and saw Gadot jumping on top of me. I swung the katana from the ground and the wood smacked him in the forehead, stunning him.

One more strike was all I would need to end the fight. I brought the wood down on his back, only for Raines to stop it with his hand. He had a small smile and let go of the wooden katana. My breathing started to return to normal levels.

Gadot groaned and brought himself back to my attention. Raines intervention meant the fight was over, so I helped Gadot to his feet and shook his hand like the awkward kid I was. Raines and Coach were both clapping. We turned and bowed slightly.

Only one fight was still going on and it was brutal. Zane and Snow were matched up and Zane was putting unbelievable power behind each mammoth swing of his log. Miraculously, Snow's guard managed to hold up.

Realizing he couldn't guard the whole time, Snow lunged forward and tried to hit Zane's face. "TOO SLOW!" Zane shouted and swung his log, connecting with Snow's chest. The gorilla was sent sprawling backwards and had to helped up.

Zane stayed quiet and dropped to the ground out of exhaustion. No one approached him, save for Raines. With one arm Raines hoisted Zane up to his feet and clapped politely. "We saw some great fights today, I would like to speak with Damon and Keep outside of class." Raines' words came out disconnected, like they were jot notes.

Zane and I looked at each other and followed the man outside of the gym. "Primarch Dysley is relaunching a PSICOM program that I believe the two of you are qualified for. The Dark Knight program is being brought back." He paused and turned to face us. I dropped my jaw at the thought of being such a highly ranked military member.

"The program is the result of a PSICOM member embracing darkness and using it in combat. The original program caused some of PSICOM's greatest members to go insane." The stakes were high but what Raines was promising was remarkable. Raines quickly turned and left.

The two of us looked at each other and smiled like idiots. Then reality set in, there could only be one Dark Knight. "No matter who ends up getting the position, we'll be friends right?" I questioned what would become of our already strained friendship.

Zane nodded and offered me a fist pound. I returned the gesture and the two of us went our separate ways to our next classes. There was an announcement at lunch that caught everyone's attention. The speakers rang "The four students selected for this years fight tournament in Eden are: Damon, Zane; Farron, Lightning; Keep, Lucas; and Villiers, Snow. Thank you for your time." The speakers cut out just as suddenly as they came on.

The cafeteria started applauding and before I knew what was happening, I was thrown in the air and was crowd surfing. I spotted my three tournament mates and we gave looks of congratulations, but there was an air of determination about all of us.

We understood that we could possibly end up fighting each other. I just hoped I would be mentally ready. The day of the tournament rolled around with much fanfare. Everything had been going my way recently, it was late October and the basketball team was still undefeated meaning we clinched the number one seed for the upcoming playoffs.

Serah and I were back on speaking terms, Zane and I were repairing the rocky part of our friendship, and Christina was starting to be her cheery self again now that I was opening myself back up to the world.

The airship ride to Eden was lighthearted, and the four of us were as ready as we possibly could be. The sanctum building loomed large and it looked like something out of a story. There were huge marble pillars and a grand reddish purplish rug.

We didn't have time to truly soak things in however, as we were quickly pulled into a room with twelve other students. The sixteen of us were to fight in the tournament over the weekend. Today was Friday, meaning we could practice with the manadrives that the Sanctum was supplying us.

Manadrives allowed us to cast magic. All of us were given paperwork to request what manadrive we wanted, and for the announcer that would be commentating our matches.

The room was very formal looking, lots of whites and grays gave contrast to the bright clothes most of us were wearing. Personally, I was wearing a bright blue t-shirt and brown cargo shorts. It would have made me stick out if other students weren't dressed somewhat similarly.

The paperwork was simple and of the available manadrives, I chose to use the water one. Despite my inability to swim, water always held a calming effect over me. I was handed the manadrive and soon enough the sixteen of us were ushered into a room filled with sparring mats and workout equipment. Most people gravitated towards the mats but the bench press was my destination.

"I'll spot you." I spun on my heel and saw a guy about six foot tall with glasses and short black hair. He had a bit of stubble on his face and he was dressed in standard workout clothes. "Do I know you? You look familiar."

He frowned and adjusted his glasses, which I just now noticed were bent as all hell. "You probably know my cousin, Benjamin Anderson. My name's Josh." He held out his hand and I shook it. "I'm Lucas Keep. Ready to lift?"

I grinned and plopped down. We spent half a hour lifting, with us taking turns between sets. "We should probably figure out how these manadrives work." Josh got up and walked over to a tall guy with dirty blonde hair and a disinterested look.

I turned my attention to scanning the crowd. There was only one other girl besides Lightning. She had short light brown hair and was wearing short shorts and a ton of eye makeup. She seemed to be socializing with Josh and his friend.

"She seems so out of place here." I muttered to myself before joining the other teenagers. True to her name, Lightning chose a thunder manadrive and was trying to tame the complexities of it. She sent a series of sparks down on a training dummy and they left little marks on it.

"How do you work it?" I asked as I walked up next to her. "Create a mental picture of whatever your element is and the manadrive should do the rest." She was panting from exertion. I stared down my dummy and closed my eyes, fists forming in my hands.

Thoughts of the pier came to mind, the churning waters and the crashing waves stood out. I opened my eyes and held up my hand. A small sphere of water launched itself towards the dummy and the force caused it to rock slightly and the wood was clearly soaked all the way through.

A wall of tiredness hit me like a cement truck. It took so much out of me to cast one water spell. "I guess that's why the military trains with these all the time." I heaved a few breaths out and pushed myself off of the ground.

Zane was working with a fire manadrive and Snow with a blizzard one. Some kids had a natural attunement for them. The other girl was able to chain three castings of blizzard together before collapsing.

Soon enough a bell rang and we were shown to where we were sleeping for the weekend. I was rooming with the guy that was talking to Josh earlier. He was watching the TV and paid no attention to me when I walked into our room.

It was small and functional, only the bare minimums were in the room. Mini fridge, microwave, small bathroom, two full sized beds, a tiny TV, one nightstand, and a window that looked out over the city. "Dinky room they gave us eh?"

His voice was low and calm. "Yeah, I'm Lucas. You're Josh's friend right?" He smiled and got up off of the bed. "We might as well be brothers, I'm Christian." I smiled and laid down on my bed. "My little sister's name is Christina." I chuckled and looked over at him.

His face was expressionless and he seemed disinterested. "Just a variation of a great name bro." He finally smiled and laughed a little bit. We didn't really talk for the rest of the night. I was too tired from training to focus on a conversation.

The next day we were awoken and given twenty minutes to get ready for a parade. Apparently it was expected that we were to be put on a float and shown off to the city for those that couldn't make it to the action.

We were given uniforms to wear. They were very plain. Brown or black slacks depending if you planned on joining PSICOM or the Guardian Corps, A dress shirt of the same color, and a tie that contrasted the rest of the outfit. Mine was a blue that stood out against the light browns. Christian had a white tie that looked like it was suffocating him.

We joined the rest of our group to find that only four people were in the brown uniform. Josh was one of the few, and both girls were in brown, however the weren't in the same uniform. They were in light brown sleeved dressed that came down to their knees.

Lightning's hair looked relatively tame for once, and she looked amazing. Josh looked as taken aback with the other girl as I did with Lightning. I quickly adverted my gaze, hoping she didn't catch me staring at her.

The parade was god awful, we were pushed through the streets, forced to keep smiling faces and good posture. Most of the crowd were little kids and older adults. The kids were cheering like crazy and it gave us all a confidence boost.

When the parade ended we were taken to an arena that had more seats than any basketball court I'd ever seen. The building was in an oval shape and there were locker rooms for us to change in. We were told to change into something that we were comfortable fighting in.

I made my way to the locker room and dropped onto a bench that was ever so conveniently placed near me. My legs were bouncing with excitement and my heart was beating like a hammer. An employee handed me the bag I packed and I dug out some mesh shorts that went down below my knees and they were light enough to not get in they way while fighting.

I grabbed a red t-shirt out of the bag and slipped in on after undressing. The shirt had a smiley face that had 'Xs' for eyes. It was fairly right fitting, so loose fabric wouldn't get caught on things during the fights.

I met the other fighters outside of the locker rooms, in a tunnel that led to the arena. Each of us were handed a bracket that showed the first round of fights. I looked it over and saw my first opponent. Bolton, Christian. I made eye contact with him and gave a nod.

We were led to a rack that had real weapons on it. "How do you expect us not to kill each other?" A short guy with red hair looked like he was about to flip. Lightning answered for him. "Cocoon l'cie. They're going to cast protective magic on the weapons, basically making them dull. They're still going to hurt, but you won't die."

It seemed that everyone but him had read up on the tournament before coming. We all grabbed weapons that we were comfortable with and took practice swings. Like usual, I took a katana and tried to get a feel for the balance.

It still was far from the katana from my dreams. We were then handed the manadrives we selected and led out to the arena. The first fight was to be Lighting and Josh. Josh held a spear with both ends sharp. Lightning had chosen a standard short sword that was quick to maneuver.

A robed figure walked onto the arena and cast a spell that shed a light on both of their weapons. "The l'cie." I heard the others muttering about it. It didn't matter to me, according to the stories l'cie could do much more than that.

A deep voice boomed over the speakers and the crowd fell into a hush. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Cocoon young military fight tournament. Our first match will be between Manor, Joshua and Farron, Lighting. Fighters." The announcer paused and both of them gave a nod of acknowledgment.

"On your marks. BEGIN!"

Josh used his spear as a pole vault and launched himself a good ten feet into the air. He came down and swung his spear horizontally. Lightning countered by doing a complicated series of backflips to avoid it.

She spun on her heel and swung upwards, connecting her blade with his spear. Josh lost momentum and tumbled to the ground. Lightning launched forward and swung down on him. Holding his spear in front of him, Josh blocked the attack and pushed Lightning away.

They stood and stared at each other, both of them regaining their breath. Josh attacked first, but not with his spear. He launched a fireball that forced Lighting to go on the defensive.

While she was recovering from the first a second one hit her directly in the chest. Josh smirked and ran towards Lightning to finish the fight, only to receive a kick to the chin.

Lighting flipped forward and slashed his chest and shoulder. Josh knew he was beat when Lightning connected six strikes in a row to his upper body. The crowd erupted and Lightning helped Josh up and he gave a small smile at the gesture.

"Your first round winner is Farron, Lightning! Manor, Joshua has been eliminated from the tournament." The announcer could barely be heard over the thundering crowd. "Our next fight is between Bolton, Christian and Keep, Lucas!"

The two of us descended from the seats and down onto the arena. We looked each other in the eye before drawing our weapon. Christian held a six foot katana that was probably half a foot wide. I groaned and unsheathed my two and a half foot katana.

The same robed figure came out and cast the spell again. The air had more of a safe and welcoming feeling once the spell was cast.

"On your marks! BEGIN!"

The announcer cut me from my pondering and I charged my roommate and he held up his blade in defense. A loud clang sounded through the air as both of us were knocked back from the force of the impact.

I smiled and closed my eyes, this fight was going to be fun.

* * *

Epic or not epic? Let me know! Also please give me some feedback about both my writing and the high school situation.

Even if you guys say that you like it makes me happy and motivates me to crank out the chapters faster.

Thanks go out to l3itterness and Chris-Chris for reviewing.


	8. Regretful actions

This is a ton of action, so i wont keep it from you for very long. Just be sure to read the bottom note!

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"Lucas! Don't lose focus!" I heard Lightning's voice sticking out among the roar of the crowd. The stands seemed far away from me and it was amazing that I could hear any distinct sounds.

My eyes were still closed when I heard the pounded of footsteps on the ground. Opening them, Christian was sprinting towards me.

His six foot blade glinted in the light and he swung it with remarkable speed. I brought my own katana up and braced for the impact. The force came from both sides of me. My eyes widened from the burning reeking from my side.

I turned quickly to see Christian hunched over behind me. I looked for a second sword only to find one. "Speed kills." That same uninterested tone broke the silence. This fight was slow paced, every swing carefully calculated and precise.

Our fight fell into a routine of quick slashes trying to probe each others defenses. The crowd fell into a lull as I made an effort to keep distance between my opponent and I. The high octane duel that preceded us was a sharp contrast to my own ordeal.

I dashed towards Christian and slid into a wide arcing slash. It was easily deflected but I had picked up a valuable piece of information, he left his guard down after his initial blocks. The next minute was spent walking slowly, recovering all my lost energy.

I would need it for this to work. I stepped forward and focused my thoughts on a choppy sea in the middle of a terrible storm. The manadrive responded to my thoughts and a series of water projectiles were headed for Christian.

As expected he raised his blade to deflect the spell. He wasn't counting on me charging in directly behind them. Using the spraying of water as my cover, I was able to deliver eight slashes to his unprotected chest.

Pulling together the last of my strength, I jumped up and brought my katana down on Christian to end the fight. He managed to bring his blade up in an attempt to end my assault. There was a clang resulting from the colliding of metal and once again I was held in the air.

The pressure my body weight was putting on his blade caused the end of the fight. Christian smirked and tried to push me off of his katana. There was a shattering and all of my weight plunged my sword into his shoulder.

Or it would have, if there wasn't a protect spell in effect. The blow was enough to end the fight. I slowly rose from the ground to hear a chorus of cheering around me. The fatigue I had acquired from the duel caused me to drop to my knees.

Medical staff quickly rushed out to check on the two of us. Christian still hadn't moved since the attack. They loaded him onto a stretcher and took him to be treated. Another staff member escorted me after him.

I was guided through bland, repetitive hallways and taken to a shockingly colorful room. The walls were orange and covered with various medical posters. "I'm just going to give you a check up to make sure there was no serious damage."

The staff member poked and prodded me with different medical instruments and soon enough I was good to go. "You should be fine, just drink this." He handed me a blue bottle and I looked it over.

It was a potion, these things are great for healing minor injuries or keeping someone alive until professional help can arrive. I twisted the cap off and eyed inside the bottle. The liquid was clear and it had no smell. "Bottoms up." I muttered and tilted my head back as I dumped the contents of the bottle down my throat.

The stinging and aches my body had started to disappear. My energy was replenished. "Tastes like apple juice." The staff member chuckled and took the empty bottle from me. "They always tasted like wine to me."

I thanked the man and wondered back to my place in the stands. When I returned the rest of the fights had already ended. All four of Bodhum's fighters were still in the tournament. I took my seat next to Lightning and watched the stands file out for intermission.

The next round of the tournament would begin in half an hour. Leaning back, I closed my eyes and thought about Christian. I had hurt him pretty bad, and to be honest I was afraid of hurting someone like that again.

I heard a rustling of paper and opened my eyes to see Claire holding one out for me to take. "Next opponents." I looked at the paper and saw the name Peterson, Morgan. The name was foreign to me.

I felt a tapping on my shoulder and turned to see the other girl in the field. She held out a hand and smiled at me. "I'm Morgan, you're Lucas right?" I nodded and shook her hand. She smiled again and left Claire and I alone.

"How did she fight?" I asked, realizing I missed her fight while I was getting checked on. "Two small daggers, and a lot of magic. She's almost as fast as you." I hummed slightly and thought through possible strategies.

Lightning's fight seemed much more interesting to me. She had the unfortunate circumstance of fighting our favorite gorilla. "Can we trade? I'd much rather fight Snow." She laughed slightly and started putting her hair up in a ponytail.

"Why, afraid to hit a girl?" She smirked devilishly and I elbowed her playfully. "Petrified." I tried to hide the sarcasm out of my voice, to no avail. Both of us started laughing uncontrollably. I excused myself for a bathroom break and descended the stairs that led me to the locker rooms.

The thing that caught my eye was the shower area. I knew that I had plenty of time before my fight, so I decided to take a quick shower. Much to my dismay, the water came out at one temperature. Tundra. The ice water hitting my skin was reason enough to make the shower quick.

I finished in record time, and slowly dried myself off. My clothes were exactly where I left them, hanging from an open locker door. I threw them back on and rushed up back to my seat. Zane had just finished taking out the red headed kid who made the outburst before the fights.

That meant my fight was going to start in about two minutes. Lightning gave me a look that read 'where were you?' but I shook it off and headed over towards Morgan. She smiled at me and led me down to the arena.

I nodded at Zane when we passed on the stairs. He had acquired a cut below his right eye and it was bleeding profusely. He grimaced and walked towards the nearest medical member.

I tore my eyes away from him and down to the last few steps. I jumped them and walked to my end of the arena. "Fighters are you ready?" The announcer's voice boomed out of the speakers that lined the stadium. I nodded and unsheathed my katana.

The setting sun glinted off of the blade slightly and it showed my opponents reflection. The crowd hushed as the robed figure walked out towards us. For the second time today, the spell cast on our blades made me feel uplifted.

I was in an excited and dangerous mood. "On your marks. BEGIN"

Morgan dashed at me before the words had even finished ringing out of the speakers. She was moving towards me quickly. She front flipped into the air and threw something at me. I pulled my katana up in defense and felt something deflect off of it.

A dagger wedged itself into the ground next to me and the sun caused a glare that temporarily blinded me. The blinding was what Morgan was hoping for. I felt a slash on my left arm and my leg went numb due to a chilly blizzard spell Morgan sent my way.

I switched my katana into my weaker hand so I wouldn't aggravate my left arm injury. I didn't have time to turn on the offensive as Morgan quickly turned around and started sprinting at me again. I rolled forward to avoid another thrown dagger only to feel a slash down my back.

I screamed in agony and nearly lost my footing trying to back up. "That's it! No more playing around!" I ran full speed at her and moved my katana faster than I thought was possible. Her shrill scream filled my ears as all sixteen cuts hit her torso.

She collapsed in a heap and my eyes went wide with knowing what I had just done to her. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and my legs got wobbly beneath me. "I'm...I"m not done yet." I turned around, against the desire of my spinning head, to see Morgan slowly getting up to her feet.

Her shirt was ripped in a lot of places and her arms were already covered with bruises. Six ice projectiles shot out of her hand and they were headed straight for my head. I slashed through three of them, only for two to hit me in my chest.

I fell to my knees in pain as the last one zoomed over my head. Morgan looked far worse off after that attack than I did. Her hand was a blueish purple and she had fallen, motionless, on her back. The sight was too much for me to stomach, I felt and acidic taste in my mouth as a pile of vomit found its way to the ground in front of me.

The crowd was silent as neither of us were moving. I didn't even know if Morgan was conscious. The unpleasant sight of a stretcher rushed out into the arena, and soon Morgan was loaded onto it. Slowly, I got up and dragged myself back to the stands. My head hanging the entire time.

I slammed my fist against the concrete wall that surrounded the fighting area. Lightning rushed down and dragged me up the stairs. "I did it again." My voice came out as a whisper and I was sure no one heard me. Claire did.

I slumped down in my seat and sat there, brooding. "It was an accident, try not to think about it." I looked up at Claire and tried to hold back my emotions. She sent me a look of concern before heading down for her fight. She was to fight Snow.

I couldn't bring myself to watch the fight. I went back to my room early, there was no reason to be here any longer. The next round wasn't until tomorrow, and I didn't even know if I could bring myself to get back in the arena. I didn't want to hurt someone like that again.

When I got back to my room, Christian was inside, sleeping on his bed. His shoulder was wrapped and his arm was in a sling. I looked at the digital clock that sat on the nightstand, it read 8:32. The way my body and mind felt, it should have been at least two hours later than that.

I walked over to my own bed and tried to get comfortable. I couldn't sleep, my head was filled with regret among other emotions. "Maybe I should just drop out." I muttered to myself before turning over in my bed.

"Don't. You need to keep fighting." I sat up and looked towards my roommate, he was in the same position as when I entered the room. "Things like this happen, I'll be fine." His voice still had that same calm, almost disinterested tone.

I leaned back down and thought about it. "I guess I'll try." I heard him laugh somewhat quietly before I closed my eyes and drifted off to dreamland. It was just a few hours later when I woke up, it was time to head to the arena and start fighting.

Christian's small pep talk had given me reason to see this through as long as I could. The arena was loud, until I came into view. The stadium grew to an eerie silence, as I took my place in the arena. Zane stood across from me, his two handed sword sticking out of the ground.

I drowned out everything else, the only sounds that remained audible were my breathing, and the light rain that was just starting to come down. It was nothing more than a sprinkle, but the dark clouds loomed upon us. The robed l'cie sprinted out to us and cast the same spell as all the other fights.

I didn't hear the announcer at all, but he must have started the fighting, as Zane hoisted his blade out of the ground at walked towards me with an air of determination about him. I had yet to move, my katana remained sheathed.

Time seemed to be flowing much slower than it should have. Zane's sword was heading towards my head. I didn't move, the blunt side of his sword smacked me in the head and sent me flying to the concrete wall.

I closed my eyes and shut myself off from the pain. I forced myself to stand up and opened my eyes again. Unsheathing my katana, I sprinted towards Zane at full speed. His face showed a look of surprise and he didn't have time to block my attack.

A slash horizontally across his chest hit him at full force. I heard him grunt in pain behind me. Turning to see the damage, his sword connected with my ribcage. The blow pushed me back a few feet and dropped me to my knees.

I gritted my teeth and swung at Zane's legs. The katana hit and Zane fell to the ground. I dove on top of him and tried to attack him again, only to be thrown off. The crowd was starting to get into the fight, despite the brutality of the combatants.

I tightened my grip on my katana and sprung back up to my feet. Zane was already barreling down on me and I had to move fast. I spun into a slash and felt the handle vibrate in my hands. I had adjusted Zane's path and sent him spiraling towards the cement wall.

He collided and slumped down in a heap. I froze and and fell to my knees, fearing the worst. Medical staff rushed over to him. Zane stirred and gave a small thumbs up. I picked my head up and got up off of the ground.

I walked over and held out my hand to Zane, he smiled and let me help him up. The guilt I put on myself for the past fights lifted off of my shoulders when Zane took my hand. The crowd began to clap, the clapping increased in volume as Zane stood up and we embraced in a bro hug.

I held my arms up in victory, and for the first time in this tournament I felt happy with winning. I ascended the stands and gave a fist pump, the crowd ate it up and starting cheering wildly. Medical staff pulled me aside to make sure I was okay, but because of this I ended up missing Lightning's fight.

As much as I wanted to support her, I didn't want her to win. I couldn't raise a blade against her. I don't know how hitting her with my katana would affect my mental state. My contemplation was interrupted by the same man who handed me a potion yesterday.

He was holding out another vial of the stuff. I thanked him and downed it pretty quickly. The taste of apple juice once again flooded my mouth as the contents of the bottle slid down my throat. I tossed the empty container into a nearby garbage bin and walked back to the arena to see Lightning bowing in victory.

From all the way up in the stands, I could see the faint traces of a smile appearing on her lips. I was happy for her, she was going to win the tournament. I had resolved to not take up my blade against her. Sure I was going to make the fight seem entertaining, but I wasn't going to hurt her. I'd never forgive myself if I did.

There was a brief intermission after Lightning's win, and she used the time to approach me. "So it's the two of us in the finals." My tone probably seemed sad on the outside, much to my dismay. "I don't want you holding back on me Lucas."

I smirked and nodded, fully intending to hold back. "Only if you don't go easy on me." I elbowed her playfully and felt arms wrap around me. "I know this isn't really the time to say this, but I want to thank you for being my rock all these years since my parents died."

I grew silent and returned her hug. I had never known I was the reason she didn't totally break down after losing her family. Sure I found it strange that she didn't cry, I cried for weeks when my parents died. As if fighting her wasn't hard enough, she had to go and say something like that.

"Claire, I know this isn't really the time to say this, but I want to thank you for being my rock all these years since Serah broke my heart." She giggled at my copying of her words, but she smiled at me nonetheless.

It was true though, She was the only one I really told about what had happened. Snow didn't even know I liked Serah, and Christina was too young to understand at the time. We broke our embrace and walked down to the arena together.

"Welcome to our final match, the finals are between Farron, Lightning and Keep, Lucas!" The crowd erupted and I raised my hands soaking up the atmosphere. If I wasn't going to win, I would play the situation up as long as I could. Bask in the glory if you will.

A different l'cie walked out, this one's robe was black. As opposed to the white robed one who had been working the rest of the fights. My mind started to wonder if that l'cie had finished its focus, or if it met the fate worse than death.

The spell being cast broke me from my thoughts. I was too on edge to notice the change in the air. "Fighters! On your marks. Begin!" The announcer shrieked, causing the speakers to crack. My ears starting ringing, but that didn't stop Lightning's advance.

She effortlessly swung three slashes at me, giving me little time to unsheathe my katana and raise my guard. Somehow, I got my blade up and deflected two of the swings. Only one hit me, and it only cause a stinging sensation in my right arm. My weak arm.

I closed my eyes and pictured a tidal wave crashing down on a ship, capsizing it. The manadrive responded and I shot a water spell in Lightning's general direction. Fully knowing that it would hit the ground short of where she was standing.

That didn't stop her from doing a backflip and casting a thunder spell midair. Three bolts of electricity went through my shoulder and I felt a tingling and numb sensation on my right shoulder. I grabbed my katana and ran towards Lightning, swing haphazardly.

The swings were easily deflected and I was knocked off balance. I let myself topple onto the ground and take the blow that Lightning had sent to the back of my knees. I slowly got up and brushed myself off. Turning myself to Lightning, I raised my eyebrow in a way that questioned her effort.

My response was a thunder charged blade ramming my chest. My eyes went wide. There was no way she already that much control over the manadrive! The hit knocked me on my ass and I skidded on the ground a bit.

I didn't bother getting up, there was no point in drawing this fight out any longer. "The winner is Farron, Lightning!" The crowd reached ear splitting levels as confetti shot out from the stadium walls. I slowly got up and walked over to Claire.

"Get your trophy and lets go home yeah?" I smiled and slung my arm around her, ignoring the burning that was coming from my wounds. "Homesick already Lucas?" I nodded slightly and nudged Lightning. Signaling it was time to take a bow.

We did so and I headed up the stairs. Leaving Lightning for her trophy presentation. Raines and a few other officials made their way out to her with a huge shiny silver trophy. "Maybe I shouldn't have thrown the fight." I laughed to myself and took a seat next to all other fourteen fighters.

Morgan and Christian were fine, and they didn't blame me for what happened. Much to my relief. Josh was nudging Christian towards Morgan, which made me think he was trying to set them up. A chorus of cheers snapped my attention back towards Claire, who was holding the trophy high above her head.

She shook hands with everyone down there and slowly made her way up towards us. "Would Keep, Lucas make his way down for his runner up plaque." The announcer sounded a bit irritated, but I had no idea I got a reward for letting my ass get kicked.

I walked down again and shook Raines' hand. I was handed a small wooden plaque that had 'Runner up Lucas Keep' etched into it. I thanked them and returned to the others. Everyone had school tomorrow, so they quickly loaded us onto a bus and shipped us back to Bodhum.

I slept on the way back, not bothering to take up in pointless chit chat. We got home very late, it must have been one in the morning at least. Both Serah and Christina were asleep, as evidenced by the silent house Claire and I arrived to.

I made my way up to my room and instantly fell asleep as I hit my bed. When I woke up, the clock read 4:13, meaning I had slept through school. School had been over for an hour already. Lightning was probably at work, and Christina was most likely at a friend's house doing homework or something. Serah should be home though.

I wished I wasn't right. I walked down the stairs, still half awake and saw the worst possible thing I could see.

Zane was sitting on my couch making out with Serah.

* * *

Crazy shit eh?

I know i've been pumping these chapters out at a fairly decent pace, but i need a bit of a break from this story. Its a bit of a drain right now and another story idea has been bubbling around in my head, making it hard to work on this one.

So it may be a while before the next chapter comes up, depends on how i feel in coming days, weeks. However long it takes really.

anyways, thanks go out to HiddenChaser for reviewing


	9. Coming together

Longest chapter yet, sorry for the elongated wait. But we're finally back! Sit back and enjoy the ride.

* * *

"Get the hell out of my house!" I shouted and approached the young man whose eyes grew large. Serah's shouts of protest were inaudible. The only thing I could hear was my heart beating rapidly. "Serah invited me in, not you." The blonde aimed to defend himself, or maybe to hurt me. If the later was his goal, he accomplished it. "Like I give a fuck!"

Zane's eyes met mine and we stood there glaring, waiting for one of us to make a move. "Later Serah, your brother is fucking insane." The blonde flipped me off and left my house. Screams were the next sound that was heard. I shouted at the top of my lungs and punched the wall next to me. Anger was the only thing fueling me right now.

My vocal temper tantrum was accompanied by Serah yelling at me. "I don't even like you Lucas! Get over yourself!" I turned to face her. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were puffy from the tears running down her face. "Well fuck you too Serah, I'm going to my room." I didn't even bother to hide the emotions surging through my voice.

A mix of anger, sadness, and bitterness were all I felt. I slammed my door behind me and collapsed on my bed. Tears threatened to fall from my face, and I made no effort to stop them from soaking my pillow. I spent the rest of the night avoiding Serah, I couldn't face her. Claire tried to talk to me, but I couldn't find the words to say.

Unable to justify what I did, there was nothing to say. The night came, but I didn't sleep. I laid awake in my bed staring at the ceiling, thoughts of Serah going though my head. A knock came on my door around two in morning. Five hours before school was to start. Getting up, I threw a shirt on and cracked open the door. Serah and Claire were standing outside.

"What do you want?" My voice was void of emotion, much like my expression. Serah's eyes fell to the floor and Claire cleared her throat. "I'm going to force you two to stay in this room together until you solve your problems. You two were so close when you were younger. I hate seeing you guys fighting." I looked Claire in the eye and sighed. She was determined again, nothing would be stopping her from trying. I opened the door all the way and laid back down on my bed.

Neither one of them moved from the doorway. "Well are you coming in or what?" Serah slowly inched her way in and closed the door behind her. I heard something dragging on the floor and If my guess was correct, Claire had blocked the doorway. "Have fun you two." Her voice was quiet and I couldn't place the emotion she put on it.

"Is this really worth it Lucas?" She was the first to speak. Serah's voice was barely audible. "You being nothing but a bitch to me and making me feel like an asshole all the time is pretty undesirable." My words were harsh, but now was the time to say them. "What did I do that was so bad Lucas?" Her voice was raising in volume and anger. "Lying to me and leading me on for weeks. Taking advantage of my feelings for you." She glared at me and hit me across the chest. "I haven't done anything wrong Lucas."

My face turned to one of disgust and I sat up. "FUCK YOU!" I opened the door and knocked down the bookshelf Claire used to block the doorway. I heard my name being shouted as I walked out the front door and down the street. Making sure they weren't following me, I went to the one place that always calmed me, by the sea.

The old wooden pier creaked beneath my feet, adding to the rhythmic sounds of the waves crashing on to the beach. The night was slightly chilly, and being in nothing but mesh shorts and a t-shirt should have been unbearable. For whatever reason, the coldness was the last thing on my mind. "She's terrible to me." I muttered to myself before laying down on the pier.

"I always crawl back to her though." I rolled over on my side and felt the wind blow my hair over my face. "That can't be comfortable." I didn't move to the sound of Snow's voice. "Lightning gave me a call, said I needed to check up on you." I grunted and sat up. The gorilla was wearing black jeans and a white wife beater.

"You look like a redneck and emo mix" He laughed and rubbed his head. "Its Serah isn't it?" His voice got a bit deeper, less cheerful. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Might be. Might be something else." Snow sighed and he walked over to me. He put his hand on my shoulder and sat down. "Lightning told me what happened, I had no idea she did that to you while she was dating me."

I looked at him and gave a sigh of my own. "It didn't stop when you two broke up." He grimaced and slung his arm around me awkwardly. "Kid, you can't win all your battles. Sometimes its best to let one go." It was the first time I seriously considered the one thing that people had been telling me since this whole thing started. "There's something I have to do first." I got up and looked towards the basketball courts. "What's that kid?" I cracked my neck and looked at him.

"Settle things with Zane." Snow looked confused, I guess Lightning didn't tell him that part. "Do what you gotta do kid." The sun was starting to come up, and I couldn't go back to my house yet. "Snow do you mind if I get ready at your place?" He grinned and nodded. I followed the gorilla to his house and up his stairs and to the door of his bathroom. "Thanks again." was the last thing I said before taking my morning shower.

I washed the sand and filth away from yesterday and got into some clothes Snow let me borrow. They were big on me, but they would do for today. Grey slacks with a black shirt were laid out for me. "Does he own anything with an actual color on it?" I laughed to myself and got changed. Snow was waiting for me when I got downstairs. "Ready to go kid?" I nodded and grabbed his spare helmet.

"I hope this is the last time I have to ride bitch on your bike." Snow laughed and threw on the back. He took off and we were at school in a matter of minutes. I went through the motions of the school day and I avoided everyone who tried to talk to me. The day ended soon enough, and I tracked down Zane. He gave me a blank look as I approached him.

My knuckles cracked against his face as all of my pent up anger found its way into a red mark on Zane's face. "That's for making out with that slut." I held out my hand to help him up and looked him in the eye. "This sentence is the last thing I have to say regarding her. If I were you, I'd get away before she can use you. And I'm sorry for yesterday." I didn't wait for his response.

I turned on my heels quickly and made my way to the gym. There was one last thing to take care of. "Coach?" I poked my head in and saw him watching film of our next opponent. He looked over and waved me in. I sat down and took a deep breath. "What can I do for you son?" His voice was kind and it made me regret what I was about to say.

"After this year, I won't be coming back to the team." He took off his glasses and looked at me carefully. "I'm glad you're finishing the season. Good luck outside of basketball Lucas." I shook his hand and nodded at him. "Thanks for understanding Coach." The first round of the playoffs started tomorrow. I would be playing, but my heart wouldn't be in it.

The playoffs took place in Eden and for the second time in five days, I got on the bus to Eden. The stadium I had been fighting in just a few days ago had turned into a basketball arena with thousands of seats. I saw Josh and Christian warming up across the court from me. I went over to them and shook their hands.

Christian was still bandaged up, but he looked okay. "We made the team once you took Ben out." Josh couldn't hit a shot to save his life, but he looked to be a good defender. Christian was hitting a lot of short shots. "Have fun guys." I went over to my team and started casually throwing shots up. Coach came over to me and pulled me aside.

"You're going to be on the bench for the start of the game, we need more size in the lineup." I nodded and went back to shooting. Truthfully, I was glad. I'm not ready to play a basketball game. The game started off pretty bad for us. Zane kept turning the ball over and no one got into a rhythm. I finally got put in during the second quarter.

We were down 46-27 and the morale of the team was pretty low. I took the ball off a screen and fired up a three. It clanked off the rim and led to a run out for East Eden. I cringed and waited for the ball to come back up the court. I got the ball and threw up a contested two point shot. It banked in, but I wasn't able to get back on defense.

After an easy bucket by Christian, we were down 50-29. I took the ball again and jacked up a long three. It drained much to my own surprise. It was supposed to be nothing but a frustration shot, but it ended up getting everyone rolling. The half ended with a score of 54-44. I was exhausted though. "Coach, I can't get back in there."

He nodded and Zane replaced me for the second half. The gap was too big to close without me though. East Eden ended up beating us 82-75. I bit my lower lip as I saw the disappointment on Snow's face. He went his entire high school career without a championship. Media members rushed towards us after the game. I stayed behind to answer questions while everyone else got back to the locker rooms.

The biggest question is why I wasn't on the court in the second half. My answer? "I got hurt in the first half, didn't want to risk injury." With that, I left the court for the last time.

Its really strange how much things can change in a school year and thirteen days. Without basketball, my life turned into a simple pattern. School, work, gym, eat, sleep. Everyday. No changes. The rest of sophomore year and all of junior year blew right by without me even caring. It was summer of junior year when things started to change.

Serah and Snow had gotten back together. Zane had dropped out of school and enlisted into PSICOM. Lightning was working as a member of Guardian Corps full time. Myself, I was always working out or just working at my dead end job. I was in the best shape of my life, and after my senior year, I would be enlisting in the GC.

I came inside my house that summer to find Claire sitting on the couch in her uniform. Her birthday was soon, and I needed to get her a present still. She looked at me and handed me a letter. I eyed her for an explanation. She gave none, she only shrugged at me. Sighing, I tore my eyes away from her. With her working for the GC, she was always stressed and exhausted.

Putting my focus on the letter, I opened it up to find a bunch of legal jargon I didn't understand. Checking the sender, I read that it was from the Bodhum law firm. I went up to my room re-reading the thing. The letter was going over some information. I was 17 now, meaning I was able to access whatever my parents had left for me in their will.

Clicking my tongue on the roof of my mouth, I went through it for a third time. The letter said to be at the Bodhum legal firm tomorrow at noon. Cracking my neck, I went through my closet to make sure my suit still fit me. After trying it on and finding myself satisfied with the way it fit, I laid down on my bed for an early night.

The next morning, I woke up and quickly got ready for whatever it is I would be getting from my parents will. I rushed myself through the habitual morning routine and threw the suit on. One gorged breakfast of toast later, I left for the firm.

The building was quite unassuming. Very bland considering the tropical environment Bodhum is. Inside was just as bland. Modern furniture and even worse modern art decorated the walls. Attempts at plant life stuck out against the gray walls of the firm. I checked in with the receptionist and waited for my name to be called.

She looked about the same age as me, blonde haired thrown up in a bun and a woman's suit screamed professional. Soon enough my last name was called from the blonde girl. I followed the receptionist to an office where a young lawyer sat at a cluttered desk. Thanking the receptionist, I shook her hand and sat down across from the young lawyer.

"My name is Roy Finch and you are here about receiving the contents of your parents will correct?" He cut right to the chase. Feeling a bit rushed, I nodded and waited for him to pull out a few pieces of paper. He pulled out an envelope and handed it to me. "You should be the one to open this Mr. Keep." I nodded and quickly tore the letter open.

All that was inside was a key and a note that said "BCB Box 311." I was puzzled, I had no idea what this was supposed to be. "Ah a bank key. Probably money then. Just head down to Bodhum city bank and they should take care of you" His attention was starting to head back to the paperwork that was piling up. Knowing it was time to go, I thanked him for his time.

Standing up, I shook Mr Finch's hand again and left. The receptionist gave me a slip of paper on my way out along with a wink. I opened it up and it read "Claire 246-580-9897" The girl had the same name as the only person I really trusted to have my back. Putting the thoughts aside, I threw the paper away and set off. It was just a short walk to the bank.

The place was equally as dull as the law firm. "Bodhum needs new interior designers, god damn." I sighed and walked up to the teller. "Hello may I help you?" The lady working smiled at me. She looked absolutely ancient. I forced a polite smile and pulled out the key I received just a few minutes ago. "Yes, I have a key for box 311."

She took the key and left. A few minutes later she returned with a decent sized cardboard box. It had BCB plastered across it in black letters, outside of that it looked fairly plain. "The contents of the box are in here. Have a good day sir." I thank her and returned home. No one was in the living room when I arrived.

Heading up to my room, I placed the box on my bed and stared at it for a while. Eventually, I decided it was time to open the thing. "Christina!" I called for my little sister, and soon she joined me in my room. I ruffled her hair and nodded towards the box "This was our parents stuff." Being the awesome big brother I am, I let her open it.

The first thing she pulled out was a black box with gold designs etched into it as well as my name. She crooked her head at it before carefully handing it to me. It was relatively heavy for its size. Putting it aside, I peered inside the box. Gil was what my eyes saw first. 200,000 of it to be exact! My mind was finally put to ease, I could put Christina through college.

A smile creeped onto my face. The last thing inside were two letters. One for each of us. Christina took hers and darted out of the room. I shook my head at her before opening the third letter in two days. It was from my father. It read, "Dear Lucas, Inside the box is something that has been in our family for generations. I trust you with it. I love you son."

The letter was short, but it still brought tears to my eyes. I wiped them away and grabbed the box. The letter fell to the floor forgotten for the moment. The top of the box came off to reveal a katana. "Makes sense, we are ninja after all." I paused before correcting myself, "They were ninja, I never learned anything"

I pulled it out of its sheath to find the most surprising thing possible. The blade before my eyes was tinted red and it was perfectly balanced for me. "Masamune." The word came out hushed, barely audible at all. "This has been in our family for how long?' I looked at the blade with amazement. It was quite literally the katana of my dreams.

After some time, I but the masamune away. The katana from children's stories was real. And it was under my bed! The was the last normal day before the madness started. The thirteen days before the purge were to start after I laid down for bed that night.

Thirteen days before everything went wrong.

* * *

**Day One**

The morning was normal enough. Everything was in routine, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Nevertheless, I went to the beach and ran like I did every day. The clouds were dark that day, an ominous sign of what was to come. Not even my sense of paranoia could predict what had really happened that day.

I returned home after my workout to find Serah waiting for me. She opened her mouth as soon as I acknowledged her presence. "Lucas, everyone is going to the beach tomorrow. Do you want to come?" I looked her over. After I blew up on her all those nights ago, she had avoided me. "I suppose." And with that I left her.

Night was filled with a dream. A dream of my death. There was ice everywhere and I couldn't defend myself. To be honest, the dreams stopped bothering me long ago. However, this was the first time in a while I had dreamed it. Letting my insomnia take over, I stayed awake through the rest of the night and watched the skyline bleed into the next morning.

* * *

**Day Two**

I sat up and turned off my alarm when it went off at eight in the morning. I performed my morning routine and walked down the stairs to see all three girls waiting to go to the beach. My black trunks with neon green design looked stylish, and with only a tight white shirt to cover my chest the girls would be attracted.

That's what I hoped anyway. Making the object of my torture jealous was a very fun thing to do. "Nice muscle Lucas, I remember when you were scrawny." Claire smirked at me before turning around to lead us to the beach. I ignored her and followed everyone, making sure to stay in the back. Walking in the back of the group gave me time to observe and reflect.

I could tell something was amiss. It turns out Serah had a surprise for us when we made it to the beach. Snow was waiting for us. I nodded at him, having appreciated him helping me out back in the day. Lightning however, was not too pleased. "What is he doing here?" I took it that she never found out that they had started going out again.

"Serah invited me?" Snow looked confused, he wasn't able to figure out that she didn't know. "Why would she do that?" Lightning's voice was filled with venom. I cleared my throat and grabbed her arm. It did nothing to stop her rage.

"Because I'm dating her?' I cringed as soon as the words left his mouth. Lightning shook me off of her arm and stormed towards the gorilla. I shut my eyes and seconds later a loud smack rang through the air. I turned away from them and started walking back towards the house. I didn't need to be around this any longer.

The last words to hit my ears were from Claire, "Stay away from my sister!"

* * *

**Day Three**

The fallout from yesterday wasn't as bad as I expected. Claire was still to busy fuming to yell at Serah and start another argument. I sat down next Serah on the couch and started causally flipping through the channels on TV.

"I'm going to the vestige today." I turned and gave her a questioning face. Before saying something about how childish and stupid that was, I shut my mouth and shook my head. My attention turned back toward the TV.

Minutes later, Serah got up and left the house. "That girl is crazy." I had taken two weeks off of work to relax and today was the perfect day to go skateboarding. If only it wasn't so unbearably hot outside. Putting on some light clothing, I grabbed my board and a water bottle.

Skating around the city had lost its charm over the years. I knew every dip in the road and every spot to practice tricks. The sun set on me pretty quickly, forcing me home. I saw Serah on the sidewalk on my way there.

"How was the vestige?" She was spaced out and it was like she didn't even hear me. Sighing, I shook my head and skated by her to the house. She avoided all of us that night. Something happened at the vestige, something bad.

* * *

**Day Five**

The past day was uneventful, just Serah continuing to avoid us. I eventually forced her out of my mind, and turned my attention towards the upcoming fireworks show. "Just a few more days now Christina." The little girl always loved the fireworks.

"What are you gonna wish for Lucas?" I chuckled and brought her into a hug. "I can't tell you that." She ran down the stairs towards Claire, and I soon followed her.

Claire was glued to the TV. "Whats going on?" She quickly hushed me and I turned my attention towards the screen. "-accident at the Euride gorge energy plant. Details are not yet in-" I shut off the TV and pointed with my eyes towards Christina.

"Claire lets talk about this in private." Grabbing her hand, I dragged her out of the room. "What kind of accident was it?" Claire bit her bottom lip, and I saw a legitimate look of fear in her eyes. "Rumors are that it was Pulse l'cie." The kitchen grew silent as I took in her words.

"Pulse hasn't attacked in like a hundred years or some shit! No way they're l'cie." She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "The fal'cie made a Cocoon l'cie, some little boy too."

My head was spinning, the only reason a Cocoon l'cie would've been made was to protect Cocoon from Pulse. "Don't tell Christina anything, I don't want to scare her yet." She nodded and left me standing in the kitchen alone.

I slammed my fist down on the counter and exhaled deeply.

* * *

**Day Nine**

The next couple of days passed by with high tension. Everyone who saw the news heard the rumors of a Pulse attack. Keeping Christina unaware may have been a mistake, but I had to take that chance. My life wouldn't be ruined by a Pulse threat, I continued my routine as normal.

Sunset was already approaching as I finished up my daily run on the beach. Feeling the heat start to get to me, I took my sweat stained shirt off. Steadying my breathing, I saw a familiar shade of pink on the beach. Serah was sitting next to some red headed girl I'd never seen before. Casually, I made my way over to them, making sure to flex my developing muscles.

Getting this girl's attention from Serah would do enough to satisfy me for the day. "Howdy Serah, Who's your friend?" Both girls jumped out of surprise and I gave out a slight laugh. "Hope I'm not interrupting a romantic moment, looking at the sun." I flashed my cheesy grin at the red head and sat down the two girls.

"My name's Vanille. Serah was helping me after I fell down." She giggled a bit and looked at me. I stood up and paced around them. "Not used to the sand eh?" I let myself fall down on it right in front of them, causing sand to fly up around me." Vanille shook her head and tilted her head at me.

"Lucas! You got sand in my boots!" She stood up and kicked me playfully. "Well that sounds like your problem Serah." I winked at her and stood up. "Well I need to shower, I'm all gross and stuff. I'll catch you at the fireworks show right Vanille?" She nodded at me and waved goodbye as I set off.

Giving one last grin towards the red head, I started jogging towards my home. "Mission accomplished." I muttered to myself after dodging a pedestrian.

* * *

**Day Ten**

"What are you getting Lightning?" I turned around to face my shopping companions and received shrugs as my answer. "Well, I'm going to look at that part of the mall, meet up in twenty?" I pointed to the opposite end of the store and cocked my head.

Snow nodded, slipping off in another direction. I spun on my heels, leaving Serah to fend for herself. Entering a department store, I browsed around with no real idea. "What to get? What to get?" I sighed and looked over some jewelery under a glass counter. "Can I help you sir?" A worker had shown up to save me from the nightmare.

"Yes please, its my sister's birthday and I have no idea what to get her." She gave me a knowing smile and leaned over the counter to look with me. "Well what's she like?" I made a 'hmm' sound as I thought about how to answer that question. What was Claire like? "I would say she's a practical girl. Not really one for gaudy accessories."

The lady helping me made a 'hmm' sound of her own. "How about these?" She held up a pair of bracelets with various charms on them. One of which was a lightning bolt. They looked like they wouldn't be loose enough to get in the way of anything. "Those are about as perfect as it could get. Thanks miss."

She nodded and walked to a register to ring them up. "3000 gil please." I pulled the required fund out of my wallet and got them gift wrapped. 3000 gil was a hefty price, but why shouldn't I spoil her every now and again. She was the one person who always had my back.

Taking my bag, I headed off to meet with Serah and Snow.

* * *

**Day Eleven**

"Fireworks tonight!" Christina was running around the house with anticipation. She acts like a little kid all the time. Myself, I sat on the couch next to Claire. Her present was hidden away in my bass guitar case, which no one dared to touch. "You're really working tonight?" I asked incredulously.

She nodded slowly, a look of disappointment on her face. Unnoticeable to anyone but myself and Serah. Sighing, she got up and left for her shift. "That uniform's skirt looks great on you Claire-bear!" I called out to her just as she closed the door. I could tell by swearing on the other side of the door that she heard me.

I snickered to myself and propped my feet up on the coffee table. "Well you two ready to go?" Serah had come down the stairs dressed in a skirt of her own. "What is it with you Farrons and skirts?" I got confused looks, but I brushed them off. "Lets bounce ladies." I took Christina's hand and led her down beach.

Soon she ran off towards her friends and Serah had migrated to Snow. Leaving me all alone. I walked to the waters edge and plopped down. Tons of tourists had come to town for the firework show. These wishing fireworks had been going off every year since before I was born. Soon enough the display started and I closed my eyes and made my wish.

"Aren't you too old to be wishing?" I opened my eyes and saw a silver haired kid. He looked kind of familiar. "It has nothing to do with age kid." I heard him huff, probably about me calling him a kid. "Go off towards your parents kid, you should spend all the time you can with them." He didn't move, just slowly looked up at me.

"Actually I was going to ask where Christina was." I opened my mouth a bit about to ask how he knew her, when suddenly I remembered this kid. "Easter right?" He grumbled and shook his head. "Estheim. Hope Estheim." I shrugged and started thinking about that trip to Palumpolum. "She ran off that way kid." I jerked my thumb off the side and watched him leave.

"Who names their kid Hope?" I shook my head and turned my attention back towards the fireworks. Soon Lightning made her way toward me and sat down. "Amodar gave me the night off." She looked up at the sky and took in the display with a blank face. "He's always looking out for us." I nodded at her comment and grabbed her hand.

"Come on birthday girl, lets get you home for the night." Right on cue Christina came over to us all alone. I guess Hope didn't meet up with her. "What about Serah?" I shrugged and started dragging Lightning home. "She's a big girl."

The night was still young, but tomorrow was a real celebration best to save it for Claire's big day.

* * *

**Day Twelve**

Serah, Christina, Snow, Lightning, and myself sat down in the living room. Gifts were set up on the coffee table, still unopened. The room was kind of tense. It was obvious Lightning didn't want Snow there. Soon enough beeps rang out from the kitchen.

"Cake should be good to go, I'll go take care of that. You four play nice now." Closing the kitchen door behind me, I opened the oven door to pull out a perfectly baked cake. White icing was soon being spread all over it. Grabbing the candles and placing them into the cake a shout carried its way to me. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

I cringed at the sound of Lightning's voice. Pretending like I didn't hear anything, I carried the cake out to the birthday girl. "Hey girly, got your cake." She didn't look at me, her eyes were glued to the ground.

I set it down on the coffee table and sat down next to her. It was only just now that I realized we were the only two people in the room. Before I could attempt to comfort her, The TV sprung to life flashing alerts. "-Pulse threat has been discovered in Bodhum.-" I shut the TV off. "Serah." The word cut the silence, and I started to piece things together.

"What exactly did I miss?" She didn't say anything, only grabbed her issued gunblade. "Slow down, open your gifts, and then we'll figure everything out." I walked up behind her and grabbed her shoulders. "Calm down Claire, we'll figure this out." Fifteen minutes later, I was brought up to speed on everything. "Snow may be an idiot, but his hearts in the right place."

I was bitter about Serah becoming engaged, but there were more important things right now. "Come on lets sleep this night away and get things done tomorrow."

Christina had ran off after Serah, leaving Claire and I the only occupants for the night.

* * *

**Day Thirteen**

"They're purging us to Pulse." Claire's words didn't affect me at all. I looked up at her, she was standing by the door to the house in her GC uniform. "Well that's gonna come back to bite them in the ass."

I gave my trademark smirk and gripped masamune. Wordlessly, we embarked towards the purge trains. "Take care of this Light, I'll get us a spot in line." We made our separate ways after confirming our plan. The end of the line was occupied by a older black man with an afro. "Howdy stranger. Ready to be purged?"

I let the sarcasm show and followed it up with a cocky grin. He looked at me carefully. I glanced down at my own attire, black cargo shorts with a blue shirt. I smirked and zipped up my black jacket, hoping to conceal masamune. "How old are you kid?"

Deciding not to answer, I saw Lightning approaching. "You two don't look ready to go quiet into the night." We turned to look at the old fellow. A chocobo decided to fly out of his hair. "You want quiet, better take the next train." Lightning's voice came out bitter and harsh. So I decided to make a more casual approach. "Chill out old man, me and Princess over there will take care of everything."

I gave one last cocky grin before turning to the face the front of the line.

* * *

This chapter had a bit of everything I thought. Well time to get into the meat of the game. This has easily been the longest chapter I've ever written.

Please give me some feedback. Updates may slow, as I will be playing the game while writing the rest of the story. Just to make sure I get everything right.


	10. Fighting Fate

Sorry that this one took so long, I had to figure out what to do with everything.

* * *

"You know these robes are pretty comfy." Lightning elbowed me to shut up. The train we were boarded on was barreling down the tracks. A soldier popped in the cart to check up on us. The poor fool.

"You two are serious aren't you?" The old man was whispering in Lightning's ear. He was on edge, nervous about our plan. Hell I was nervous about this plan. "Shut up." Her words were low and harsh. The grumbling man took another look at the soldier before replying.

"Best of luck." I grunted in response and shifted in my seat. My hand clenched on masamune. The idiots who boarded us didn't even try to search me. That was going to bite them in the ass. The train shook abruptly, breaking me from my thoughts.

Time for the big show.

Lightning was the first out of her seat, she bolted up and leaped over the guard. He was knocked to the ground and the device restraining all of us was smashed beneath her boot. "She did it!" The old man's words cut over the panic coming from the other passengers.

More soldiers entered the car, only to receive a swift kick from a now uncloaked Lightning. I cast my own robe off and drew masamune, the red tinted weapon was ready for action. I followed Lightning to the doorway of the next car. In her hands was the gun that the guard had been holding not even a minute ago. I nodded at her before charging in the next car.

The next soldier received a slash to the midsection, knocking him out of commission. Lightning covered me by shooting the oncoming guard down. I gave her a nod of my thanks before moving on.

A snap of fingers behind me alerted me to Lightning's gravity unit taking effect. One soldier slammed into the wall from her jump, a second slashed down by me, a third received a kick to midsection. The clanging of metal and the ringing of gunfire filled the car.

Silence quickly filled the room as Lightning and I were left standing near a large number of bodies. "They all want to fight." The black man had joined us with the other passengers. "Well that's fanfuckingtastic afro man." I left with Lightning to the front of the train and watched us come out of the tunnel. The green and black backdrop of the area known as the hanging edge came into view.

"Jesus tits, this looks messy." Lightning looked out the window and took in all that was going on around us. We didn't have long before the train came under fire from sanctum airships. Lightning's cold demeanor returned as she yanked the weapon from the old man's hands. "Give me that!"

I sighed and let her take aim. The rocket fired and brought the airship down in seconds. "Boom headshot!" I felt pain on my arm and an irritated Lightning looking at me. "This isn't a game L!" We were using code names, we weren't sure who we could trust.

She fired a rushed shot behind us, missing the airships tailing us. They fired on the train again and the whole thing was nearly launched off of the tracks. The back half was gone, but we were still okay up front. Another machine hit the train and I thought this plan was about to fall short already. The whole train came to a grinding halt and a hole was ripped off of the room of the car we were in.

"Run!" The old man shouted as he saw the mechanical beast that caused this. Lightning and I quickly exited through the hole in the roof and approached the Manasvin Warmech. "Hey hey, let's be rational now!" The old man had joined us just in time for the Warmech to take a fighting position.

It swung its blade at us haphazardly, causing me to roll backwards. I sprung up to my feet and readied masamune. "They're sending the big guns out what do we do?" This guy was starting to annoy me. "What do you think old man?" Lightning dodged another attack from the Warmech.

"Time to go on the offensive." I muttered to myself before taking a fighting stance. Lightning dashed forward connecting a few strikes against the metal 'head' of the machine. Gunshots rang out from behind, I turned to see the old man firing pistols at the machine. I followed their cue and swung masamune at the Warmech.

Two slashes dragged against the metal plating, making me cringe from the sound. That was all I had time to execute before blades smashed into the ground were I was standing seconds ago. The three of us took position once again before going back on the attack.

Another assault of attacks was met by a laser from its tail hitting the old man in the leg. The beast jumped back shortly after and began to shake the train. "Fall back!" Lightning shouted out her orders to us. I showed off my superior speed and outran both of them to the next car.

As soon as we hit stable ground the old man opened his mouth again. "Not so tough now huh?" I rolled my eyes, teasing a giant death machine is not a good idea. Right on cue, the Warmech powered up. "That wasn't like a challenge now alright?" Sighing, I readied masamune again. "No it wasn't like a challenge, it was one." The old man didn't have time to answer me before round two with the Warmech started.

It began by shaking the train again. Lightning and I reached the next car in time, but the old needed a jump to barely clear it. Falling flat on his face must've sucked. A chocobo flopped out of his hair and onto the roof of the car we were on. "Really, in your hair?" I shook my head at the ridiculousness of this entire shitstorm.

The Warmech jumped down onto the car. The three of us quickly launched attacks at it. Only to be met by a wave cannon, the blast knocked me flat on my ass. My arm hair was probably burnt off and my whole body felt like it was on fire. I groaned before hopping back up. I let out a scream before leaping at the machine.

After several slashes and attempts to dodge the wave cannon, it fell off the bridge and down miles and miles below us. I sheathed masamune without a word and began to follow Lightning. "Aren't you supposed to protect civilians, soldier?" The tone of bitterness in the old man's voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

"She's not a soldier." I shut him up for awhile, because the questions stopped there. I followed Lightning down off of the train and onto the highways of the hanging edge. "This is a mess." I groaned at his voice again. "Keep quiet, there are soldiers up there." I hushed him down and crept up behind the rubble with Lightning.

Under the cover of the debris, the PSICOM soldiers weren't able to detect us. I waited for Lightning's signal and on 'three' we jumped them and they were quickly defeated. "This bloodshed better end soon." Mindless killing wasn't what we were after.

Our trip down the highway continued like this for several minutes, taking cover and quietly taking out the PSICOM soldiers. We took cover behind and object and saw a lone PSICOM soldier patrolling. "Not wanting to get purged I get, but taking on trained soldiers?"

Lightning grunted and looked him in the eye. "Better to die than get sent to Pulse, its hell without the brimstone." The two of them quickly grew silent. "Charming, now lets take care of this clown." We broke from cover to see two militarized creatures come out of a portal. "Fantastic, you first Princess." Much like the other soldiers along the way, they didn't stand a chance.

Gathering ourselves after taking yet another life, we pressed onward. The road ahead came to an end. By a red hot ship of doom. A crash into the bridge halted our progress forward. "You have got to be shitting me!" I dropped to the ground in frustration. There was no way we could get to the vestige at this rate.

"Quiet, I'm thinking." Lightning started walking towards the edge. Suddenly, I knew what she had in mind. "Alright Princess, lets do this the dangerous way." She snapped her fingers and her gravity unit activated. My favorite guy on the planet didn't think that was a great idea. He pushed me aside and grabbed onto Lightning.

"Hey! Wait, don't leave me!" I sat, dumbfounded at the moronic old man. She eventually kicked him off, sending him face first onto the ground. As expected, the gravity unit was busted. "Hey that might get us across! Right there!" I turned to see him pointing at some kind of transport. "Lucky little shit." I pushed myself up off the ground and followed Lightning to our Dues Ex Machina.

Much to our luck, the first thing we found on board were soldiers. A commander to by the look of it. "This is going to be fun." My bitter tone cut the silence, alerting the other soldiers. When it seemed like he was about to open his mouth, I cut him off by drawing masamune. "Save it." He charged towards us, leaving the other soldiers across the transport from us.

"Rookie move guy." With him being cut off from back up, we surrounded him, taking turns hacking at him. Soon enough his guard fell and it was over. We followed up quickly, taking down his near forgotten allies at the other end. The fighting had ended, our weapons had been stored. "So soldier, what's your angle?"

I bit my tongue trying not to laugh. If she told him, his reaction would be worth going online. She chose not to answer at first. So I decided to step in. "The Pulse fal'cie." Old man started chuckling to himself, before stopping. "You're serious aren't you?" Lightning walked to the control panel and started the transport.

"Still happy you tagged along?" I walked over and patted the old man on the back. Things were about to get ugly. The transport was well on its way, explosions occurring every odd number of minutes. The old man finally spoke up. "It's an out and out massacre."

I bit my bottom lip and walked over to hear Lightning say "That was the idea. Why carry the danger to Pulse when it can be stamped out here?" I sighed and grabbed her hand subconsciously. The depressing sights of death around me, and the blood on my own hands made me wish for my mother. Lightning was the only family I knew was safe.

"It was an execution all along." The words barely came out of my mouth. My fingers tightened around Lightning's hand. "How does the government get away with pulling shit like that?" He turned around to see another explosion in the distance. "PSICOM are the ones to blame, and the man leading them. The Dark Knight."

Shivers sent down my spine at the thought of the most powerful man in all of the military. His identity remains a mystery, and the fact that I had a chance to become the Dark Knight terrifies me." The old man sounded irritated behind me. "PSICOM, Dark Knight. Soldiers are soldiers aren't they?" I sighed and walked over the dead PSICOM troop laying close to me.

It could've been anyone, maybe even Christian if he went through with his recruitment. "What about you kid?" I looked up at the old man with sad eyes, feeling sick with myself for the first time. I felt like crying, so many people I know, their blood could be on my katana. "Still just a kid."

I didn't bother to answer him, I just sat there and let the tears fall. "L, time to go!" A mechanized soldier was coming our way. It big, and red, and I was not ready to fight. It slammed into me, nearly knocking me off of the transport. Luck was on my side at that moment, I was able to recover quickly enough to join in the fight.

Jumping up behind it, I rammed masamune into the wiring on its back. The machine seizured a bit before shutting down. I collapsed on the ground and put masamune away. "What's that?" I apparently didn't have time for a break, the vestige was being lowered before my eyes!

"Time to take it down." I walked up behind Lightning and leaned on her for support, my legs still shaky from the blow I took minutes ago. We got closer, and soon Lightning dove off the end of the transport. "Break time's over old man!" I called back as I blew past him and free fell to the bridge below us.

I rolled into the gravity field Lightning set up for me. Once the old man fell down after us, I started off down the bridge. Towards the Vestige.

"I wouldn't take another step rebels." Cold words, choked through steel cut through the air. The scraping of metal on the highway was enough to stop me dead in my tracks. Ahead of me, Lightning had turned and already drawn her gunblade. The clicking behind me told me the old man had readied his pistols. I soon turned and saw what I was dreading.

The Dark Knight.

Black armor with dark purple trimmings fit tightly on him, protecting him from most forms of damage. The most frightening thing though, was the haunting sword on his back. It was all black, save for a purple line running down the blade, almost like a crack. It was massive, meant to be weld with two hands. The Dark Knight easily swung it at us with one arm.

Fear wouldn't overtake me, I drew masamune and stood my ground. "Poor choice of action, rebels." He walked towards us slowly, bringing his sword to a striking position. Lightning bolted past me and jumped down, slashing at his head. His sword was up in a split second, casually blocking the attack and knocking Lightning back.

My turn.

I walked forward, taking slow and calculating steps. Observing every move he made. I slashed forward, expecting a deflection. The deflection happened suddenly and with great speed soon I was thrown back from the sheer force of his swing. The cut his sword made on my chest was gushing blood. I could feel myself slipping into despair.

"Devastating isn't it? When this blade cuts into flesh, it begins to consume the soul. Making the blade stronger." I watched as the old man's bullets were bouncing off of the Dark Knight's armor. Lightning was holding her own against him, but she was wearing down. The Dark Knight didn't even look like he was trying.

Soon he was pushing Lightning back, her guard wouldn't hold up for much longer. Bullet shots eventually stopped and a dull thud reached my ears. I tried crawling towards the sound, but my body wouldn't comply.

"Lucas!"

I barely heard Lightning call my name. My head was starting to get fuzzy, the only thing I could feel was my splitting headache and the gash on my chest. My vision was starting to go, the blood loss was to great. I heard a scream and the clanking of metal as my vision went away. "Pathetic, there would be no point in taking your souls for my blade."

The clanking was fading away. "It would be unbecoming of me to kill a lady. May your comrade find peace in the afterlife." Just as suddenly as the Dark Knight had come and defeated us, he was gone. More blood was pouring out and there was nothing I could do. The old man's voice was cutting in and out as I battled to stay conscious.

"Come on kid, you're too young to die." The old man was doing everything he could to keep me alive. I felt pressure on my chest.

"Claire"

Her name slipped out of my mouth. "Save her." I felt the pressure on my lighten up and a sigh clouded my hearing. "Drink this kid, I'll do what I can for her." I felt something pour into my mouth and the taste of apple juice flooded my remaining senses. I felt a hand in my own and I gripped it. The smooth yet calloused skin of Claire's hand calmed me down.

"Don't tell her I told you her name." I got no response from the old man. That potion he gave me was keeping me conscious, but I didn't know how much longer I could hold it together. "She's gonna be fine kid." I felt a smile tug at my lips. If she would be okay, maybe dying wouldn't be so bad. "If I die, will I see my parents?"

I choked the words out between spits of blood. "Kid, I hope you never have to find out." I didn't know how to take his words. I squeezed Claire's hand tighter, hoping she would make it. "You really care for her don't you?" I didn't answer, I just smiled and felt myself slip totally out of consciousness.

"Claire."

The word gave me hope, hope for the future. If anyway could slay the fal'cie it had to be her. I had lost, I lay in a pool of my own blood. One slash from the Dark Knight and I was defeated. Blackness was all that surrounded me. Blackness, and the taste of apple juice.

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Well? How was all of that? Leave some reviews! Let me know if it was worth the long wait.


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